‘We should be going for five-in-a-row’ – Ger Manley hails his Cork camogie heroines for ‘raising the bar’

The Cork boss didn’t shy away when asked if the back-to-back champions will drive on in search of three-in-a-row – a landmark not achieved by the Leesiders since the county claimed a famous four-timer between 1970 and ’73.

Moreover, alluding to narrow final defeats in 2021 and ’22, he suggested: “We should be going for five-in-a-row, we should be like Limerick. We should have won the last four if you go through it.”

Manley was coach last year before stepping into the hotseat when Matthew Twomey departed. “They've raised the bar this year. The gym work, everything,” he declared.

Camogie fans say the sport is growing as Cork wins against Galway in All-Ireland final

“We did one night a week during the league, one night in the gym. It is the work they do on their own is key.

“As the weather gets good and the sun comes out, we went back training twice a week. That was the key. We gave them a break after the league for 10 days, the girls had a holiday. We trained hard when they came back and then we took a break again for a week after the All-Ireland series. I think that is the key, that you are not killing the players. I see it there with men's teams. They are killing them.”

He added: “Look, we took it handy the last week. We had two hard trainings after the semi-finals. It paid off. You could see it. Killing girls and killing fellas five nights a week is madness.

“We trained right. We did no running last week, we felt they had enough done. You could see it there today. Laura Treacy is phenomenal, you saw her at the end there. Pamela Mackey, Méabh (Murphy). It really is that defensive core that you need to win these big games.

“We need the scores up front, no doubt, but it is the workrate behind, and the work the girls put in since I've been here - I am in here three years now.”

Manley paid tribute to vice-captain Méabh Cahalane who returned from a hamstring injury to feature for the last 15 minutes (injury-time included) … and then raised the O’Duffy Cup along with Molly Lynch.

“You saw Méabh came on there, she had an injury and if it was on a men’s team, he’d be out for three months. She got back in six weeks with the injury she had, and that's the spirit that we’ve shown all year,” the manager beamed.

“They just worked so hard, we put so much into this. We started the year very late to purposely plan for this. This was our aim, to get back - and we got back.”

Another member of the famous Cahalane dynasty – Gráinne – missed out on the final after rupturing her Achilles during a recent training session.

“I said this early in the year – if you had 15 Cahalanes you’d be delighted,” Manley remarked.

“Méabh’s attitude is spot-on, she’s been a brilliant leader for us all year. She was just unfortunate at the end that it came at a bad time, it was a simple thing in training. She came on today and she was so good. That's the way we've been all year, everybody's came on and did their best.