Philip Wall aiming to change family fortunes in All-Ireland final

Michael Bolton

It has been a busy few weeks for the Wall family, with All-Ireland finals becoming a regular occurrence in camogie and hurling.

For Philip Wall, the focus is on the All-Ireland junior hurling final for Kilbrittan against Easkey.

For his twin sister Kate, it was disappointment as she was part of the St Finbarrs side who lost the All-Ireland camogie final replay against Athenry.

It was a second All-Ireland final defeat for Kate, who was part of the Cork side which lost to Galway in September.

Philip is hoping to bring silverware back to his family, after a busy festive period for the Wall family.

"There was talk before of it being a quiet Christmas, but I think this is the busiest Christmas we've ever had, to be honest.

It was incredibly special. Us being twins, and both being number 11 was a nice little added perk to it.

"Even just talking around at home, it is back to the good old days we're together, and it was, it was very cool. I suppose it's very unique. So we don't have much time to dwell on it."

The form of Kate, which has brought her back into the Cork team, has been used as motivation by Philip.

Inspiration was never far away for Philip, with his brother Jamie making his name as a coach following paralysis, while his other sister Helen is making huge strides academically

"I think Kate's kind of succeeded a bit more than I.  I've got another sister as well, Helen, who maybe doesn't excel as much in sport, because she's really into academics.

"She's doing her postdoc at Harvard, and her PhD at Cambridge.

"Kate plays for Cork, so that's what people mainly care about. We are all very close to four of us.

"Kate and I definitely would be driving each other on, I suppose maybe in the last few years in particular, seeing Kate force herself back onto the Cork team, is really inspirational.

"There's always learnings you can take,, be it from Kate's games, from Jamie's games, whatever it is, or even just advice outside of sport.

You know, you can, you can definitely bounce it off any of Helen, Jamie or Kate, or our parents.

Coming up against Easkey, Kilbrittan will likely be the favourites, but Philip is not underestimating Sligo side Easkey in the slightest.

Having been in the All-Ireland final in 2023, Easkey have experience in Croke Park, something which a number of the Cork side do not have.

"These lads have won four Connachts in a row, six counties in a row. They've been in Croke Park before.

"I think it would be incredibly foolish for anyone to be thinking Cork versus Sligo, because it's not Cork versus Sligo.