Ger Manley: Winning a tight All-Ireland final made it all the sweeter

The year soon ending could hardly have gone any better for new Cork camogie manager Ger Manley as the O'Duffy Cup was retained after a cracking All-Ireland final against Galway in August.

Recently the Midleton man was in the spotlight as he was presented with PwC Camogie Manager of the Year, on a night when eight of his team were honoured with All-Star awards and St Catherine's Laura Hayes was named Player of the Year.

Manley has been looking back and beginning to look forward as the ladies in red plan for the challenge that lies ahead in 2025.

Having been involved in a coaching capacity for a number of years, he had an in-depth working knowledge of the current group of players, when he took over the main job last November.

"It was a great year. The big difference for any manager is the players you have available and we are lucky, having a great group. They were all very focused and put so much into it themselves. For me it was a privilege to be involved with them.

"To be honest I didn't see myself getting involved a couple years ago, but Matthew Towmey initially approached me and I'm delighted now the way it has worked out. The girls are just so easy to get on with, they train so well and across the board as we have seen the quality is getting better. 

"There's no doubt they are a very talented bunch as reflected by their individual awards. If anything I thought, we might even get one of two more All-Stars awards. I'm delighted for all of them that got awards. 

"Laura deservedly won the Player of the Year. She'd been the highest performer, the most consistent player we had all season. If you look at where she was last year, when she got a really bad injury, Laura has been absolutely phenomenal this year. 

She has a great physical approach: very strong, very quick, her attitude is top-class. 

"Overall we had a very strong panel in 2024 and there is more talent out there too.

"After last year's big final win over Waterford, we came back a bit late this year, but the team was incredibly consistent for most of the campaign. Following the Clare game and Waterford games in the Munster Championship, I thought from there on we were really impressed. 

"The Munster final win left us exactly where we wanted to be We did a few really hard blocks of training either side of the provincial win"

WELL PLACED

That Munster win and the return of a number of players to full fitness put Cork in a really strong position going into the championship summer again. Manley picks up the storyline.

"Monsoon-like conditions prevailed for the opener against Wexford at Páirc Uí Rinn, but I thought we were very impressive that day. From then on we seemed to get better and better. Wins over Down and Clare set us up nicely for the Dublin game - again I thought the team played very well. 

Galway then was a huge game for us, probably our best performance. The girls were outstanding for the first 40 minutes. 

"The win meant we had Dublin again in the semi-final. Being honest Dublin probably didn't produce their best performance and we got to the final with something to spare. Overall though we got very consistent throughout the year.

"The last 20 minutes of the final against Galway really showed the hunger we had in the camp. The girls wanted to win it again; they are the sort of a group who push themselves so much. I think the All-Ireland final is probably the best game I was ever involved with, men's or camogie. 

"I couldn't say I enjoyed it, but looking back maybe the few changes we made in the second half worked out well. Overall, it is some game, so close. For us to win a tight game was so important. 

"The first year I was involved Kilkenny beat us with a late goal, the year previous Galway got another late goal. To come around from where they were says so much about their mindset of these Cork players."

Reflections about successive All-Irelands always raises the issue of a potential three-in-a-row. This team looks well primed for another big effort but the manager knows it's very much going to be one game at a time in what will be a competitive 2025 championship.