Cork face tough test in camogie league opener 

CORK senior camogie side get their Very Division 1 league campaign underway tomorrow and they couldn’t have asked for a much tougher start.

They are away to Kilkenny, 2pm, at UPMC Nowlan Park, and nothing would give the Cats more satisfaction than getting the better of the All-Ireland champions.

At the same time, in Cork, the Division 2 side will also be in action against Kilkenny at Castle Road, throw-in 2pm, as Donie Daly’s squad look to keep their winning run going.

The Division 1 sides have enjoyed many a battle over the years and tomorrow will be no different. But for one person it will be slightly different as Ger Manley is now the Cork manager, with Matthew Twomey stepping down after their win last season.

While being the manager is new to Ger the set-up isn’t as he has been involved for the last two years with Matthew before taking over the top job this season.

“I was involved with Matthew for the last few years and maybe a lot of people didn’t know that, but it’s a very good setup,” said Ger.

“Liam Cronin (coach) and I get on very well and a lot of people, players, and others, were pushing us towards it and I’m happy I got it.

“Plenty of headaches in a good way already and I don’t know how Matthew did it for 10 years to be honest. But look we have great squad, good backroom team and just waiting now for the league to get going tomorrow.

“Being involved now for several years is a great help and we had a very good year last season winning the All-Ireland, very disappointing one the year before and before that again.

“But I think we brought coaching up to a good standard with Liam and Fiona O’Driscoll and a few more, with a few others around from last year which makes a huge difference.

“We brought in Dave O'Connell for strength and conditioning from UCC and I think that S&C is the way you need to go. Wesley O’Brien did a great job for the last few years, but he’s just busy now and hopefully we'll get him back in later in the year.

We’re just trying to improve the standards and the players push it. They're unbelievable really, elite sportswomen as they call them, but I call them elite people because they put in as much as the lads do.

“I've seen it, the quality is improving, their skills level, their fitness levels, what they do from off time to peak time. They're just so good you know and I’m not saying it's easy.

“We have quality players and we've been involved in All-Ireland finals now for a good few years. It was nice to be involved in a winning team last year. There’re tonnes of coaches out there who don’t win anything, and I have been lucky enough to win a few things as well as losing a lot.

“It’s the players really make a difference, and it was a no-brainer really to get involved with them.” 

Being All-Ireland champions Ger understands everybody will be out to beat them, but he also said it’s the same every season and nothing new for Cork to be in that position.

“We’ve revamped the squad a bit, looked at a lot of players during the club championships. We’ve brought in a few girls that we thought deserved a chance. We're trying to make it more competitive because if we don't make it competitive, we will fall behind the others.

STRONG

“Tipperary are coming, Waterford did very well last year, Kilkenny lost a few players, but they have some stepping up from strong underage squads. Galway are strong too and Dublin are putting in a lot of effort too.

“The target is there, but I think it's there every year for Cork. If you go back over the history of Cork, they are there or thereabouts most years and sides always like to beat Cork.

“I said that to the girls, there is a target on our backs and we can’t be complacent. But we only came back after Christmas and have played a few challenge games and hopefully we might hit the ground running. 

Kilkenny are probably a few weeks ahead of us fitness-wise, but with the players we have I'm hoping we will do ok.

“Kilkenny are the hardest games, we played them in the All-Ireland final two seasons ago and they are just so competitive physically. It doesn’t matter if it’s league or championship they are very difficult to beat and going up there tomorrow is going to be a huge challenge and hopefully one we can start off in a positive way."

Meanwhile Donie Daly will be determined to make it three from three against the Cats on the back of two good away wins over Tipperary and Galway.

They had a break last week due to college games, but he has named a strong quad for their tie at Castle Road at 2pm.

It includes the likes of Millie Condon, Aisling Egan, Lauren Homan, Olivia McAllen and Katie Walsh as Cork aim for a double over Kilkenny.