Galway All-Ireland winner Aoife Donohue is hopeful that after a year of controversy for camogie off the pitch, its incredible showpiece decider can spark a new lease of life for the sport.
Much of the conversation throughout the season surrounded the skort issue and the protests against the lack of choice – ultimately forcing change at a special congress in May – but that was in the rear-view mirror by the time the Tribe County lifted the O'Duffy Cup after a brilliant, bruising one-point win over Cork earlier this month.
Donohue collected the Player of the Match award in an instant Croke Park classic, so it was no surprise that the PwC GPA Camogie Player of the Month for July/August followed.
However, despite a mammoth push for a big attendance, only 28,795 turned up for a triple-header that also featured Laois’ Premier Junior win over Armagh and Offaly's Intermediate success against Kerry.
For Donohue, the hope is that for those in attendance – and those watching live on RTÉ – the quality of the senior encounter will spark an interest that can lead to further expansion of the sport.
"I suppose it hasn't really sunk in yet, but yeah, Jesus, it was an unbelievable All-Ireland final," she said.
"When you're out there, you don't really think about it too much. But the intensity and the tackles, the scores, it had everything.
"When you're out on the pitch, you're kind of just playing in the moment, if that makes sense."
"It's got a lot of coverage since the game and that's brilliant to see, but I suppose you'd be hoping for more support going into next year," she added.
"You'd be hoping that more people now will start watching the game and going to games, I think that is the most important thing.
"I thought last year's All-Ireland final (when Cork beat Galway) was a brilliant All-Ireland final as well and still you're looking at the figures of the game last Sunday, I think maybe 28,000 people there.
"When you look at the men's game and you see a stadium full and even the ladies’ football, I think there was close to 50,000 there, you are kind of wondering why we're not getting numbers at the games."
It didn’t escape Donohue’s notice that the likes of the skorts issue was taking up a lot of the GAA discourse in May, but the actual performances of teams appeared secondary.
"I think maybe the coverage during the championship, there wasn't really much around about games - I think the whole skort thing kind of took over and everyone was talking about that.
"We still probably didn't get much support then after that as well, but I definitely think we're in a much better position. I think it's been an unbelievable year for camogie.
"We had two really good semi-finals, the All-Ireland final was unbelievable and you'd be hoping we can go from strength to strength now."
Aoife Donohue is named RTÉ Glen Dimplex Player of the Match for the 2025 All-Ireland senior camogie final #Camogie pic.twitter.com/pKwVneb9Fq
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) August 10, 2025
The final itself was mired in a fair degree of post-match controversy as Galway turned the tables on last year’s final loss to the Rebels with the physicality of the contest really standing out.
Cork manager Ger Manley said some of the decisions that went against his team were "shocking" with his side losing Hannah Looney to a red card just before the interval, but Donohue was happy with the way it was officiated.
"I thought he let the game go, it's not something that we'd be looking at," Donohue said of referee Justin Heffernan’s performance.
"I think it gave us the game that we got on Sunday because it was let go."
Meanwhile, Dublin’s Kate Sullivan picked up the Ladies Football Player of the Month award for July and August after guiding her side to the Brendan Martin Cup.
Sullivan scored 1-03 in the quarter-final win against Cork, hit 1-01 in the dramatic semi-final winner over Galway and added four points in the emphatic final win over Leinster rivals Meath.
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