Ger Manley: 'First step done, next step now, semi-final'

They’ve done it twice already — now the goal is to do it three times in a row. The more you win, the harder it gets to keep going. Just ask the Limerick hurlers. But the Cork senior camogie team have managed to maintain their relentless momentum, and Saturday’s demolition of Wexford was further proof of their unwavering standards.

Already through to the All-Ireland semi-final, they could have taken their foot off the gas. But they didn’t. That refusal to ease up has become the hallmark of Ger Manley’s Cork side.

“I suppose we have to beat what’s in front of us,” Manley began, after the 5-21 to 0-11 win over Wexford. “I suppose last week, Clare gave us a good battle down the Páirc.

“So coming in today, we wanted to win, and we did. We're happy. We set out at the start of the year to win the group and we did. First step done, next step now, semi-final.” 

CONSISTENT

Standards are everything in this group. That’s what Manley says drives the day-to-day culture — not the silverware, but the insistence on consistency.

“The girls drive it. They’re very focussed on standards and I mean, they know themselves – if we leave our guard off, other teams are coming. Tipp are coming, Waterford are doing very well, Galway are doing well, and you’ve Kilkenny coming as well,” he remarked. “So there is nothing easy there, so the girls do push themselves very well.” 

They certainly pushed again in Wexford, where Cork were dominant across the pitch — particularly Laura Hayes in the half-back line.

“Sure Laura Hayes – player of the year – you can see why she was player of the year! She's phenomenal. She drives everything on, [Ashling] Thompson, [Laura] Treacy, [Pamela] Mackey, the backs, they were all outstanding. I suppose the trick is to keep that consistency. We're trying to get consistent.

That's where we've improved the last two years, we're trying to be consistent most days we go out and get a level of consistency and improve small things.

“I thought we improved from last week, and we're hoping to improve it from this week to the semi-final. It's going to be difficult, we’ve four weeks, so just getting matches, competitive matches.” 

Depth has been another major asset, with the bench again making a big contribution. Ciara O’Sullivan impressed in midfield, while Kate Wall chipped in with two from play.

“Kate Wall did very well, Ciara O’Sullivan, the bench has been the key; we had a couple of players with the U23s that we didn’t have on the panel today and I suppose it's working well.

“I suppose for us it’s the competitiveness of the squad, nobody knows the team every week. But training is a competitive, we’re going give them a break, as I said, but we need to improve. We need to improve.

“Semi-finals are there to be won, I've told them this already, and it’ll be the same message going forward just once we have to improve. If we don't improve, we’ll stagnate and other teams will catch us.” 

The four-week gap brings its own challenges — especially around momentum — but it does give Cork time to patch up any lingering injury concerns.

“The squad is after strengthening up a bit, we have a few injuries, niggly injuries – hopefully we’ll get a few back for the semi-final.

“Orlaith Cahalane, Katrina Mackey, Meabh Murphy and Cliona Healy, hopefully we’ll have them back in two weeks. We've four weeks now, we'll give them a break for a couple of days and get back at it when the draw is made there next week.”