Stephanie Punch enjoying creating history with St Finbarr's camogie side

It has been a season of great memories so far for Stephanie Punch, and she will be hoping to add another on December 14.

Stephanie has captained St Finbarr’s senior camogie team to Cork glory, then a Munster title for the first time and now she has led them to their first All-Ireland final.

They didn’t do it the easy was as they went to extra extra time before they got the better of Loughgiel Shamrocks by a single point, 3-15 to 3.14.

It was the second time this season it took extra extra time for them to progress, but now they will face Galway said Athernry in the decider at 4.15pm on that Sunday at Croke Park.

“I’m lost for words, the full 90 again, I didn’t think I’d see another 90 in my career! It’s unbelievable,” was the reaction of Stephanie after their win last Saturday.

“A lot of people said to us that this is bonus territory but for how hard we’ve worked and how much we’ve dug in over the past couple of weeks, it’s not bonus territory for us, this is exactly what we deserve.”

She also felt that having been taken to extra extra time by Newcastle West in the Munster semi-final stood to them.

“Absolutely. it was similar enough conditions, bar the rain held off. I suppose we went through the test against Newcastle West and went the full distance, so we knew what was coming at us, we knew we just had to stick at it.

The minds probably give out more than the legs because Dylan Byrne, our S&C, just has us in incredible shape and we wouldn’t be here without him.”

GONE

They looked gone in extra, extra time when Loughgiel Shamrocks got a goal, and Stephanie admitted she was worried.

“When you’re in extra, extra time, I suppose any goal will be hard to pull back because there’s so little time, but the girls really pulled it out of the bag.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit nervous, but I shouldn’t have been because the resolve in this team is absolutely incredible. I said it when we won Munster, when things get tough, these girls just dig in, and they always pull out a performance.

“Every step that we’ve taken this year is a step into the unknown and a step that we haven’t taken before. But you know, sometimes it’s better that you’re not faced with past triumphs or past failures.

“We’re just really looking forward to the final, and it’s incredible for the club. 

We’re celebrating 150 years next year and this is another great chapter for camogie in the Barrs, and I’m just really looking forward to it.

“There’s a two-week break now, but you have to celebrate days like this, it’s another step that we’ve never done before. But we’ll knuckle down over the next two weeks and we’ll get ready for what lies ahead.”