Anna Geary of Cork and Kilkenny’s Leann Fennelly are predicting a tight affair in today’s Senior Camogie championship final in Croke Park (4pm, live on RTÉ 2).
Speaking to RTÉ Sport, Geary said team unity would be the only way her side would see off the challenge of Kilkenny.
The Rebelettes, who are going for their first title since 2009, beat Wexford after a replay in the semi-final.
While Geary was pleased with the challenge the Wexford game presented, she also pointed out that Kilkenny could take positives from it.
“The game [against Wexford] was a very tough challenge, and I think right up to the very final whistle we were pushed and we had to have our shoulders to the wheel,” Geary said. “That game has to stand to us.
“But I suppose then you could at the other side: Kilkenny have had that extra week of preparation, that extra week of rest. We’re coming back off two tough games against Wexford, so now we’ve less than two weeks to prepare.
“But I’d take that any day to be in an All-Ireland final in Croke Park.”
Kilkenny captain Leann Fennelly was unequivocal that the extra game was a bonus for Cork, but said that their semi-final against Galway had also been a tough encounter.
The extra game was “great for Cork, but we had a good battle against Galway, as well,” Fennelly said. “We knew we were going to have a fight on our hands, and we had to dig deep at stages.”
"Right up to the very final whistle we were pushed and we had to have our shoulders to the wheel"
Asked whether Cork were now a better team than in 2012 and 2013, Geary said: “You have to look at yourself and learn from your mistakes” and that Cork had been “there or thereabouts” over the last two years.
“We’ve won the national league in 2012, and 2013, and Kilkenny this year – they’re the national league champions coming into the final. So they’ll have learned a lot about themselves, and even from losing the All-Ireland last year.
“So really, when you look at it and break it down, you have to improve on every game.
“But an All-Ireland final is different. Form doesn’t really contribute to the game itself, it’s just about what happens in that 60 minutes on the field.”
Geary said midfield was going to be a big battle, singling out Ann Dalton as a particular risk, and said that the goal-scoring threat of Kilkenny’s potent inside-forward line would pose a challenge for her and the Cork full-back line.
“That’s our job, to try and curb that as much as possible. I think if you look at every area of the pitch, there are key players in every team, and I suppose really it’s just going to come down to a team performance.
"Because no individual is going to win you an All-Ireland; it’s has to be a team, unified.”
Fennelly said Kilkenny had taken lesson from the pain of last year’s final loss, and that the experience would stand to her side.
“The hurt, obviously, was a big thing,” she said.
“And we learned; it was an advantage, having played in Croke Park. So hopefully that will all stand to us, coming back here, the whole occasion of it all mightn't get to us as much.”
She predicted a series of duels all over the pitch, as the sides met for the first time in the final since that Cork win in 2009.
“I think it’s going to be a 15-on-15 job,” she said. “15 battles out there on the day, and hopefully we’ll get over the line.”
