Maire O'Callaghan back and ready to lead Cork into tough test in Armagh

When you are captain of any side all you want to do is play and try and lead by example on the pitch.

But this season has been a frustrating one for Cork ladies football captain Maire O’Callaghan.

She has been hit by a number of injuries which effectively ruled her out of both the league and Munster championship campaigns.

When she came back from one injury she picked up another. But Maire is hoping that is all behind her now as Cork bids to build on their win over Tipperary in their TG4 All-Ireland quarter-final clash with Armagh next Saturday.

Maire came on in their loss to Galway in the round-robin stages, before starting against Tipperary in an emphatic win.

Such was her determination to show she is back Marie burst forward to find the back of the net, for one of four early goals to effectively kill off the game as a contest.

Even Maire would be the first to admit that raising green flags is something she doesn’t do too often, but the Cork and Mourneabbey star is delighted to finally be fully fit and back in action.

“I have had a few injuries over the course of the year and struggled to be fit for a long time, but touch wood they are behind me now.

“I was delighted to play against Tipp but at the same time, it’s also very hard not to feel for people that are now injured, especially for the likes of Sarah and Rachel Leahy that are out long-term.

“We have a lot of people on the panel that have had long stints with injuries so there are people that can be leaned on and to give advice to them.

“The likes of Doireann and Ciara O’Sullivan, and Laura Fitzgerald, have all had injury setbacks over time so they can help those out now to encourage them to keep going and to show there is a road back.”

NERVOUS

After managing to start against Tipp Maire continued: “I was nervous to be starting for the first time in a while. I haven’t played that many minutes all year so it was nice to get the goal to settle me down a bit.

“Then I think it just felt normal after that and the nerves went away a bit.

“We were very disappointed with the display against Galway and I don’t think we hit our stride at all in that game. I don’t think anyone on the pitch would say they were happy with their performance that day.

“So we wanted to bounce back from that loss, but we were also very conscious that the Tipp game was a knock-out one. 

It was a must-win game so we were really focused on that and said we were going to give it everything and put in the best performance we could and let the result take care of itself.”

Now they face Armagh in the quarter-finals and there are no more safety nets, with all games do or die from now on.

“We are not underestimating Armagh in any way, especially as they are at home. It will be a very tough game for us, but we have learned from last year when we lost out at this stage.

“The games are coming thick and fast and maybe last year against Mayo we were preoccupied with thinking of the next stage and not realising that if you don’t take your chances on that day there is no next day.

“We will be fully focused on the Armagh game and know it’s do or die and there is no coming back from it. We need to show up and make it happen and not just wait for it to happen or we will be on our way home knocked out and there is a determination in the squad to not let that happen,” concluded Maire.