Molly Lynch honoured to captain Cork camogie team

ROUND one of the Very Camogie League Division 1 gets underway on Saturday, February 17.

Cork will get their campaign underway with a tough tie away to Kilkenny. The All-Ireland champions know they have a target on their back and it won’t get much tougher to have to take on the Cats in their first game since the final last year.

The other opening-round ties see Clare at home to Galway and Tipperary up against Waterford.

This season Sarsfields' Molly Lynch will captain the Rebels and speaking ahead of the league start she said it was an honour to take over the armband from Amy O’Connor.

“It’s a massive honour for me and for the club. When you win the county you get to nominate the captain. So it's such an honour to represent ours,” said Molly.

“And it's lovely for my family as well. It's a great team, they're lovely girls. So I’m privileged to be the captain.

It's like having 30 plus sisters is how I’d describe it. They're a brilliant bunch and work very hard in training.”

Cork will be the side that all will want to beat this year and it won’t come much tougher than a trip to Kilkenny, who will be looking to remind all they are still a top side.

Nothing would give them more pleasure than knocking Cork off their perch and you can bet they will be determined to do so on the 17th.

“Yeah, definitely they will be looking to pick up the points at home. I suppose we have a target on our backs, but it's a good target to have too,” added Molly.

“We have to raise it again. We have to just keep looking at ourselves and keep improving and working on what we did last year. There are always areas you can improve on.

“Our management are brilliant. With every training session, there is something new to help try to bring us up to the next level.

“So that's our aim for the league, to push on and keep going. But yeah, I suppose a lot of the others are watching and targeting us, but as I said it's a good target to have.”

REFRESHED

The panel is starting to take shape, with a couple of new faces coming in and others either back or on the way back from injury.

This is leading to not only a challenge to start but also to be named on the matchday panel, which Molly said is driving them all on in training.

“We do put each under pressure in training to try and get one of those 15 jerseys that start. A few new players add to that, and it’s brilliant. So, in every training session, you're fighting for a jersey. So there's an aim every time you go out into the pitch. Others are coming back from injury too. They're so driven to get back on the pitch.

“So even watching them will drive you on, they’re inspirational people. Players like Ashling Thompson worked so hard off the pitch to get back on it. Even to get the opportunity to train with her is incredible. She's an athlete and inspirational to all around her.

“I would have grown up looking up to her. So to get the chance to play with her is brilliant. She's just so much knowledge. You could ask her about anything, but yes, definitely a great person to be around.

The way she went about her rehab from injury, she was like a professional athlete coming back from that.”

That spirit in the Cork camogie camp is evident across various teams and such the togetherness that Molly turned out for the intermediate team in their opening league game.

A superb save from her late on ensured that Cork travelled home from The Ragg with the points and they added a second win away to Galway last Saturday.

“It was nice to get a runout. I didn’t play in the championship last year, so you can regrade and play at intermediate level. 

Anytime you get to play for Cork you take it. So I was delighted to be up here at The Ragg and to come away with the win made it even better.”

But all attention is on the Kilkenny game now, and nothing else for Holly and her teammates.

“Any time you play Kilkenny it's tough, especially when you’re playing them away. We're looking forward to it and hopefully, we can get the league off to a winning start."