Amy O'Connor: Cork building nicely but still plenty of work to do

IT’S so far so good for the Cork senior camogie team as they made it three wins out of the three in the Very League last weekend.

Having had good wins over Dublin and Clare they headed to the Ragg in Tipperary knowing this was going to be a tough challenge and the toughest of the three games so far.

That it turned out to be with little or nothing between the sides all through.

But a goal from the impressive Orlaith Cahalane put Cork in a good position as they led by 1-8 to 0-7 at half time. But back came Tipp as expected and a Grace O’Brien green flag helped to bring the home side back on level terms.

But late points for the Rebels saw them over the line to win by 1-14 to 1-12 and continue their winning run. While they are not guaranteed a spot in the league final they can afford to lose one of their remaining two games against Kilkenny and Galway and would still reach it.

The win was the most important thing, but it was obvious from the players’ reaction afterward they were far from happy with some aspects of their play and captain Amy O’Connor was no exception.

It’s early in the season but these players have set high standards for themselves and would know that at times they didn’t reach them against Tipperary.

FINE-TUNING

Afterward, Amy eluded to that and said that they would look back at the game and had a lot to learn from it.

“It was never going to be easy coming up here and we knew that and I suppose we identified areas of our game that we can improve on. It was a real test for us and the most positive part was that we came out with the win and that’s the most important thing really.

“Like all sides, we are building towards the championship and we were trying out a few things today, like the other games.

“We are fine-tuning parts of our play, some didn’t come off today and that helps us to identify areas we need to look at and work on ahead of our final league games and then the championship.

“We have been building nicely in the league though, we started off with Dublin and then Clare and now Tipp and then have two more tough ties against Galway and Kilkenny in the coming weeks.

“We will have to wait and see if what we have done so far will get up to the league final but we won’t be thinking about that. 

We need to be looking at the two remaining games and ensure we improve our play and put in good performances in both of them.

“As I said today was a real test for us and we are finishing with probably the two best teams in the country over the last few years and they will be two more massive challenges.

“I thought defensively we played well today and it was probably a day for defences with it being a tight pitch and Laura (Tracey) led the line and it was brilliant that she got the Player of the Game.”

So with two games to go Cork are building nicely but they would be the first to say there is still plenty of work to do ahead of the championship.