Cork head into first camogie league game short nine starters from last year's All-Ireland final

There is plenty for Cork camogie manager Ger Manley to ponder with less than a week to go to the first game in the National Camogie League campaign.

Their last competitive match was the All-Ireland final loss to Galway, and from the starting team last summer in Croker, nine of them are not available for selection for their opening tie against Waterford.

Aoife Healy, Laura Treacy, Sorcha McCartan, and Hannah Looney are gone for the year, with Treacy retired. On top of that Meabh and Orlaith Cahalane are only returning to training this week, after their exploits with St Finbarr’s and Éire Óg in the club championships.

Add in Pamela and Katrina Mackey, who have stepped away from the panel for now, and it’s easy to see it will be a much-changed team next Saturday.

Amy O’Connor is the other player who won't start as she is recovering from an injury.

Even when he looks to the bench from the All-Ireland final, also absent are Cliona Healy, Niamh O’Leary, Kate Wall for the season, and for now, Orlaith Mullins. At least Manley knows a share of them will be back in the coming weeks, but long-term, it will be the make-up of his half-back line and midfield that he will be looking to most.

CRITICAL

Against Galway in the All-Ireland final, the five in those positions were Healy, Tracey, Laura Hayes, Looney, and Ashling Thompson. 

Only Hayes and Thompson will be available to him this season in what are two critical lines for any team.

Most likely Hayes will move into centre-back over the year and Meabh Cahalane will take one of the other spots.

But he will be using the league to see who else will put up their hand to grab a jersey.

Aoife O’Neill and Aisling Egan are two hoping to answer that question, and Millie Condon is just one of the others aiming for a starting 15 spot.

So across the league, it will very much be a case of nailing down his starting 15 for the Munster and All-Ireland championships, and he won’t be putting too much of an emphasis on retaining their title.

Of course, they will want to win every game, as any manager and side do, but he knows with so many changes, it will be easier said than done.

Cork were very impressive across the league last season, and from their first game to the win over Galway in the final, they never looked in trouble in and of the games.

There was a determination in the squad to win a title they hadn’t won in more than 10 years, and it set them up nicely for the Munster and All-Ireland campaigns afterwards.

But then the issue of the skort v shorts came to light, and the Munster campaign ended with the final being postponed last minute, and it was never played in the end.

Thankfully, that issue is now well in the past, and it won’t be rearing its head this year as all players will be able to concentrate on games rather than off-the-pitch issues.

So all of Manley and the squads' attention will be focused on games as he starts to rebuild his team. Of course, he still has plenty of experienced players in his side, and along with the aforementioned, you can add in the likes of Libby Coppinger, Saoirse McCarthy, and Emma Murphy.

It will be an interesting selection when he names his side later this week for Saturday’s clash away to Waterford, timed for 2pm, with venue tbc.