BALLINASCARTHY’S Millie Condon was thrilled to play a significant role in helping her county overcome defending champions Galway at Croke Park last Sunday.

Getting her hands, in her own words, on her first ‘proper’ All-Ireland senior medal, Millie Condon paid tribute to the members of the Cork U23 squad that moved up to senior panel over the past 12 months.

‘I got one medal in 2024 as well but this one is the first proper one (laughs),’ Condon said.

‘Like, those championship group matches stood to us. All the U23s came on. The majority of that U23 starting team were on this senior panel as well.

‘I feel we kind of took that back into the dressing room, the All-Ireland win for the U23s.’

As well as injection of youthful enthusiasm, Condon pointed to some sage advice from an experienced campaigner that inspired the Ballinascarthy dynamo.

‘I remember after the All-Ireland final last year, when we lost, I remember Laura Hayes coming up to myself and Ava Fitzgerald, who had a super game today,’ Condon explained.

‘Laura came up and she said, “Lads, where you make the Cork starting 15 is in the first round of the National League. You just have to get your position and just don’t let it go”.

‘I suppose, Ava and myself have spoken about it since so many times. That’s (taking Laura’s advice) what we did, thank God.’

Condon also believes Cork’s critics were too quick to write off the Rebel County’s chances after a disappointing showing in this year’s National League.

‘I suppose everyone kind of wrote us off at the start of the year, everyone, when the league didn’t go quite right for us,’ the Ballinascarthy midfielder stated.

‘That seven-week training block we put in after the league did so much for us. I didn’t even see the progress myself as it was happening.

‘It was only when we came up against Galway in that first championship match that we realised how much we had actually come on.

‘We were so much closer as a group. We wanted every single thing that we got. That bond got so, so close.’

Condon’s sentiments were echoed by her manager, Ger Manley.

‘We’ve such a good group, a tight group,’ the Cork senior manager added. ‘It’s been a very hard year. We knew a couple of weeks out from championship that we had something, and they put everything in – the players, the management, the whole lot.

‘This is what we’re here for, winning All-Irelands. The girls put so much into it. We had girls who came back from bad injuries. We did doubt ourselves a small bit but we have so much talent. It all came together.’

Manley also took time to single out Orlaith Cahalane for her terrific goal and even made a comparison with an Argentinian sporting icon.

‘There was nothing between the two teams,’ Manley confirmed. ‘Goals win matches and we were saying that to the girls all week.

‘Orlaith Cahalane is probably the Messi in our team. She has so much time and look, we were so good today.’