Gaelic Games

Camogie finals: Jennifer Curry falls just short of All-Ireland success with second county

More than a cúpla focail from Lisa Casserly in Galway victory speech

Armagh’s Jennifer Curry with Enya McShane of Antrim during the junior final at Croke Park. Photograph: Evan Treacy/Inpho
Armagh’s Jennifer Curry with Enya McShane of Antrim during the junior final at Croke Park. Photograph: Evan Treacy/Inpho
Paul Fitzpatrick
Sun Aug 07 2022 - 18:12

All-Ireland final day always throws up some interesting storylines and one of the best on Sunday was that of Armagh’s Jennifer Curry.

In a previous sporting life, Curry (neé O’Leary) was a brilliant attacker for Cork alongside such luminaries as Rena Buckley, Briege Corkery et al, winning four senior All-Irelands and eight All Stars in a storied career.

Her last senior final for the Rebels was in 2014, when her goal early in the second half inspired a famous Cork comeback. By then, she had met her husband Paul in Australia. Curry took up a teaching post in Monaghan and threw her lot in with Armagh, whom she helped to the Premier Junior All-Ireland final.

Unfortunately for the soon-to-be 39-year-old, Antrim came out on top on Sunday by 5-15 to 0-14.

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“I really enjoyed it. The Armagh gang are just so passionate about camogie,” she stated after the match.

“It’s like a community as opposed to a massive county, everybody knows each other and the clubs are so close.”

More than a cúpla focail

Former Galway footballer Ray Silke made two of the most loquacious (and lengthy) winning speeches from the Hogan Stand when he captained Corofin and the Tribesmen respectively to All-Ireland glory in 1998. His speech after the club final prompted commentator Ger Canning to wonder if the Angelus might have to be delayed.

Yesterday, after the All-Ireland Intermediate camogie decider, it was the turn of RTÉ Sport anchor Darren Frehill to jokingly chide a winning Galway captain about the duration of the customary cúpla focail after the cup was handed over.

Galway Captain Lisa Casserly lifts the Kay McGrath Cup. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho
Galway Captain Lisa Casserly lifts the Kay McGrath Cup. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho

“You’re not going to believe this, I think we need to get the Guinness Book of Records here because Lisa Casserly is still making her victory speech for Galway, she must be up there about 10 minutes,” Frehill laughed.

Tyrone leave it late

Tyrone camógs also got their hands on adult intercounty silverware at the weekend as they claimed the Nancy Murray Cup, which equates to the fourth tier of competition or essentially camogie’s version of the Nicky Rackard Cup.

And the Red Hand did it in dramatic fashion, too, with a classic final smash-and-grab performance. A Laura Manley score in injury-time pushed Wicklow two points clear and they looked like they had done enough – but there was time for a final twist as, after a dangerous ball from Regan Fay caused chaos in the Garden County defence, Sally McCann pounced for the winning goal.

That left the score 3-10 to 3-9 – and the final whistle sounded immediately afterwards.

Elusive double

So, the wait for the senior camogie/hurling double in the same year goes on for another 12 months at least. The last time it was achieved was in 2005, by Cork.

Kilkenny last managed it in ‘74. In the decades that followed, both their hurlers and camógs had glorious eras but they have never dovetailed.

The hurlers have won 16 All-Irelands since 1975 and the camógs have 13 but surprisingly, they were all in different years.

Quote

“Derek Lyng is the new Kilkenny Senior Hurling manager. An initial 24 year term has been agreed & Kilkenny County Board will review his performance at the end of the 2047 season” – @UnofficialGAA on Twitter.

Number: 84 seconds

The time it took Antrim’s Dervla Cosgrove to score a hat-trick in the Premier Junior camogie final.