Katrina Mackey more driven than ever for glory despite five All-Ireland wins

WHEN Katrina Mackey arrived onto Cork’s senior panel in 2009, she won an All-Ireland medal. She expected that trend to continue, more or less. 

This was Cork, surely she’d have at least nine medals in her pocket by now, in her 15th season. 

But barren spells between 2010 and 2013 and since 2018 means she has just five. 

Five! A number many players would give their right arm for. But not Katrina. This is Cork! 

"When you come on and you win you don’t think you’re going to be without of a title for four to five years," Mackey said. "You realise how difficult it is to actually get into an All-Ireland final. 

You think, this is Cork, you’re going to be in an All-Ireland every year. It doesn’t play out like that. 

"Players retire, new players come in, management changes."

A knock to her ribs in Cork’s opening league game led to a puncture at the top of her lung and kept Cork’s ace forward out for two months. 

Cork struggled without her. They lost the league final and their Munster championship game to Waterford. 

Mackey returned for their opening championship game against Galway and while Cork lost by a goal, Mackey had a stormer.

After such a tricky start to the season, it has turned around remarkably for Cork. 

"The league final was disappointing. We performed in the first half but left it behind us in the last twenty minutes. 

"We trained well coming up to the Waterford game and just didn’t perform on the day. I don’t know was there a bit of complacency. 

"But you kind of have to put that aside when championship comes around. All we could do was take learnings from it and see could we improve game by game."

And they have. 35% conversion rate against Galway in Athenry, 60% in the quarter-final against Kilkenny, 83% in the semi-final against Galway. 

"I think we’re peaking at the right time; you don’t want to be peaking mid-March. Obviously, it wasn’t good enough. It was poor and that was a major thing that we needed to rectify."

So familiar with playing either Kilkenny or Galway in finals, seven finals reached in the past ten years was against either of the two, Waterford pose something different.

"To be honest, I don’t care who we’re playing. You have to beat everything that’s put in front of you to win. 

"The Kilkenny game, it was a perfect day weather-wise for hurling, a great game. But you look at the Galway game, it was shocking weather conditions, and it was a case of grinding it out. 

"Waterford, that will bring a new challenge in itself. We just have to be prepared but we’re concentrating on ourselves. 

"We’re looking for a performance. Get a performance out of yourself, get a performance out of the team. 

Your job is on the pitch; we need to dictate the style of play and take it from there."

Cork's experience in Croke Park must count for something. 

"The last few years were bitterly disappointing. I think in 2021 Galway were the better team on the day. 

"Last year it could have gone either way. We won 2017 and 2018 by a point and Kilkenny just got it last year. 

"Players have more experience this year, we have those defeats and that will stand to us.

"Training is very enjoyable, there’s a good d variation, a good bond, a good bit of slagging, it’s a happy camp.  There’s not just good competition within the starting 15, it’s within the 20."

NEW

Katrina gave up her pre-match rituals recently. 

"I kind of got rid of my routines," she laughs. "They were kind of superstitions, and they don’t do you any good really. 

"You can be obsessed with them and that kind of plays in your head."