Cork eased to a comfortable victory over Clare in the Liberty Insurance All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship on Saturday.
While it was a relatively close affair in the opening half, the Leesiders upped the ante in the second thirty and Clare were unable to cope. Key to the Rebelettes’ success was dual-star Briege Corkery who was a bolt of energy throughout the game.
Briege told The Clare Herald that they won’t get carried away with the twenty four point victory. “We were slow starting off, coming up to half-time we probably should have been up more, I suppose we just didn’t start off great but a win’s a win we won’t get carried away with it so back to the drawing board next week”.
The Cloughduv star finished the hour with a personal tally of 1-04 all of which came from play. She’s quick to praise her teammates for creating the scores. “It was just one of those days when things went right, I’m not used to scoring really so I’m in shock really but look the girls moved really well and they passed off the ball really well and that’s the difference I suppose too”.
A holder of six All-Ireland senior camogie titles and ten equivalents in ladies football Briege is one of the more experienced members of the Cork panel. However despite this playing in the forwards is something she’s not overly-familiar with. It’s not her preferred location on the field but the main thing for Corkery is to have a jersey.
“I wouldn’t be the hugest fan of it but I’m happy to be on the starting fifteen, it’s better than sitting on the bench or sitting at home, I’ll play wherever I’m told and try my best”.
Minus the services of former All-Stars Maire McGrath and Chloe Morey hindered Clare’s display and Briege believes the Banner will still be in with a fighting chance as the Championship progresses. “The girls took some fantastic goals, Clare were missing two of their best players through injury so that’s hard on them aswell so it probably isn’t a real reflection on Clare yet I know, come the end of the Championship they’ll be fighting a lot harder, hopefully we’ll still be there to fight with them”
Each team in the group poses a different threat and this along with the unpredictability of results is why the reigning All-Ireland Champions are taking it one game at a time. “We’re not looking too far ahead of ourselves at all, we’re taking it game by game and just trying to win everything over and we’ll see, Offaly beat Wexford there today which we didn’t see coming in ways but that just comes to show how results can go and close it all goes”.