Nowhere left to hide, Cork pulled up their socks and went after it

Denise Gaule of Kilkennyand Laura Treacy of Cork after the All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship quarter-final match between Cork and Kilkenny at Croke Park in Dublin. Pic: Piaras Ó

Denise Gaule of Kilkennyand Laura Treacy of Cork after the All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship quarter-final match between Cork and Kilkenny at Croke Park in Dublin. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Half-time in April’s Cork-Waterford double-header down at the Páirc.

The Waterford women have taken their Munster quarter-final celebrations off the field and down the South Stand tunnel. It’s been so long since a Waterford team beat Cork in a senior camogie championship fixture that nobody in either camp has the slightest idea when last such a result materialised.

The Waterford hurlers are limbering up and loosening out in front of the Blackrock End ahead of their second Munster round-robin fixture. Their manager, Davy Fitzgerald, has briefly broken away from his players and is standing out around halfway with Cork centre-back Laura Treacy.

Old friends passing on the road have stopped for a quick natter.

Before Davy took up his latest posting with the Déise men, he was coach to the Cork women.

“Davy did so much for us last year, you'd consider him a pal at this point. It was good to see him as it had been a few months. We just had a general chit-chat about our season to date,” Treacy begins.

“We didn't get the result or the performance that we wanted against Galway in the league final. We chatted a little bit about that and how hard it was to turn around again two weeks later and face Waterford.”

Having just tasted another setback at the hands of the Déise, Treacy said to her old coach that there was nowhere left to hide for this group. If their graph didn’t start climbing and results didn’t start turning, theirs would be a short summer.

“I remember saying to him that day, ‘this is it now, shit or bust’. From there on, we were leading into the championship. We knew we were facing Galway in the first round and that things would have to pick up.

“I said to Davy that this Waterford defeat will have to stand to us and show us where we really have to improve. It was either pull up the socks or we are not getting out of our championship group.”

From serene sailing to the roughest of waters.

Cork had flown out of the blocks at the beginning of the league. Four consecutive wins. Kilkenny beaten by 10 points at UPMC Nowlan Park. Their average winning margin was a point better again.

But defeat at home to Galway in the final round began a sliding trajectory. Cork were already qualified for the decider, so the result was no major setback. What it did do was allow the Tribeswomen sneak in the backdoor and join them at the table for the League final. There, Galway bettered them for the second time in a fortnight.

When Waterford inflicted further misery in Cork’s own backyard, Treacy was understandably concerned.

“I am my own worst enemy and I am critical of myself. We try to better ourselves all of the time and when things aren’t working out, of course you are going to start doubting yourself. Among the questions that start popping into your head is ‘am I doing enough’.

“But we had a really good chat after the Waterford game (manager Matthew Twomey said the dressing-room post-mortem ran for 40 minutes). That was the eye-opening point where you know, here we are now, we have to hold each other accountable, and we either go after this or we are not going to see ourselves being successful this year.”

And although they suffered a fourth straight defeat when falling again to Galway in their championship opener at the beginning of June, Treacy sensed their wheel had turned in the interim five weeks.

Katrina Mackey had returned from a lengthy injury, Ashling Thompson was nearing the end of her cruciate recovery. Plus, it wasn’t as if Galway had hurled them off the park that afternoon in Athenry. Cork had dominated, but just lacked a clinical edge with their final product.

“The jigsaw pieces started to come together once the championship started. We put up a huge performance against Galway. Just couldn't get the result. But took an awful lot of positives from the game.

“Getting over Kilkenny in the quarter-final at Croke Park was massive, as was ending our eight-game losing streak to Galway in the semi-final.”

Which brings us neatly to Sunday. Killeagh native Treacy, now 28, joined the panel as a 16-year-old in 2012. By the age of 23, she had pocketed four All-Ireland medals. None since, though.

If Cork are to bridge a five-year gap on Sunday, her contribution at the heart of the defence will be crucial. The holding number six had seven second-half possessions against Galway. All bar one of her clearances found a teammate. The two-time All-Star doesn’t do waste.

“When I came onto this panel, it felt like it was a right to be in an All-Ireland final. But it has been so long since we last won one. And I feel like I am training harder now than I was back then, and I had four All-Irelands back then. I really want that feeling back.”

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Nowhere left to hide, Cork pulled up their socks and went after it