Galway camogie manager Cathal Murray proud of his players efforts
Following Galway’s All-Ireland Final defeat to Cork by the narrowest of margins, team manager Cathal Murray credited the character of his players for fighting to the end and taking the contest right down to the last puck.
‘‘I’m just really proud of the girls,’’ he said. ‘‘Unfortunately, the performance today just wasn’t good enough. A lot of teams, where they’re six points down, they’ve lost two key players, on top of the ones we were missing already, would have just died, but we didn’t. But look, there were a lot of young players out there that will be unbelievable players for Galway going forward and that’s what we want.’’
The Galway manager credited his players for their battling qualities in the last fifteen minutes and also felt that they left some scoring chances behind in the closing stages of the game, which made for a very tough experience.
‘‘The likes of Carrie (Dolan) was a huge leader for us today. She won some amount of ball and really drove us forward there in the second half. Any time we got the ball into Caoimhe (Kelly) and Niamh (Niland) they were incredibly dangerous. Look, we had some scoring chances coming down the home straight that we didn’t take unfortunately.’’
‘‘Look, you have to have that composure and that was the difference unfortunately. That’s just something that can happen and it’s a learning curve. When you have seven or eight under 23s on the field, that’s a huge learning experience for them. It’s a hard lesson, and there are plenty of what-ifs. But look, Cork probably had them last year [after 2025 final] and that’s just the way it goes.’’
Galway were most unfortunate to suffer injuries to two vital players during the final. Niamh Mallon suffered a recurrence of a shoulder injury, which led to her withdrawal in the sixteenth minute, while centre back Ciara Hickey suffered a nasty knee injury midway through the second half. The loss of two All Star winners from last season was unquantifiable in a game of such tight margins.
‘‘Niamh obviously picked up a shoulder injury in the first round against Cork, and it’s been a problem since then really. She injured it again in training, and it was touch and go whether she’d be able to play today. There was always going to be a chance that if she fell on it, it could go again and unfortunately that’s what happened. Losing her was a big blow to us.’’
‘‘Losing Ciara (Hickey) as well, she’s probably one of the best players in the game to be honest. I thought she was incredible while she was on the field. Her reading of the game, breaking up attacks from Cork. She was a massive loss to us today.’’
Murray referred to the youth of the Galway side and how injuries had forced him to go deep into his bench which comprised mainly of young players. He emphasised the point that the under 23s were the future of Galway camogie and the importance of maintaining competitive standards.
‘‘We had an awful lot of under 23 players out on that field by the end of the game. Cork had that as well and there’s obviously two super groups coming there [in both counties]. But look, we want to be competitive, and we want to be here every year. When you experience and All-Ireland Final, you want to be doing it every year to be honest.’’
Galway have appeared in six of the last eight All-Ireland Senior Finals and won the title on three occasions. Their three All-Ireland defeats were all on margins of three points or less. Murray was hopeful that the experience of last Sunday, while very disappointing, would strengthen the group going forward.
‘‘We are proud of the consistency that we’ve had [over the years] and we’re incredibly proud of the way we performed today but unfortunately, it just wasn’t to be. But look, that’s sport and you have to just move on and pick it up again. Hopefully that hunger will make us a better team next year,’’ he concluded.