The best drama was left until last.
The All-Ireland camogie final delivered fireworks to ensure the senior intercounty season went out with a bang.
Galway broke Cork’s three-in-a-row ambitions with a sublime free by captain Carrie Dolan in the second minute of injury time. It was an All-Ireland camogie final for the ages – a game played with real bite and aggression. There was a red card, a missed penalty, a levelling goal in the final minute, and a match-winning free in injury time. Phew.
But the fireworks didn’t end at the final whistle either. In his press conference afterwards, Cork manager Ger Manley was hugely critical of some decisions made by referee Justin Heffernan, including the free won by Dolan in the 62nd minute.
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“I thought a few things went against us. The sending off was very harsh, I thought it was just physical contact,” he said.
“But I thought Justin had a shocking game as a referee. The last one, the one that won the game, was a dive. Look, Galway deserved it, I’m not taking away from them, they had huge hunger, huge everything.
“I was so proud of our girls because the second half was unbelievable. I thought we were the better team in the second half. Small things win matches. Just very disappointed.”
Hannah Looney was sent off in first-half injury time after reacting to getting barged in the back by Dolan.
Manley also took issue with Caoimhe Kelly’s 29th-minute point after the Galway forward had pushed Cork goalkeeper Amy Lee in the back during the build-up to the score.
“To give Galway their credit, I thought they were street-smart. But the decisions that went against us were very disappointing,” he continued.
“It’s not sour grapes really, I just thought the referee had a very poor match. I don’t like knocking refs but I thought he had a very poor game. I know it’s a tough game but some of the decisions that went against us – it seemed to be one rule for one team and another rule for the next.
“We’re not a dirty team and neither are Galway really, they’re physical. But Amy Lee, we all saw it on the big screen, the push in the back. We were beaten by a point.
“In a tight game like that, small things win matches. Anyone who saw the push on Amy, we’d nearly need to be looking for VAR. If that was in a soccer match, it would have been cancelled out.”
Manley also revealed that Amy O’Connor had suffered a hamstring tear leading up to the game and played through the pain barrier on Sunday.
But the pain of last year’s defeat was a significant factor in driving Galway to victory this season. The Tribeswomen lost the 2024 All-Ireland final to Cork by three points and they were defeated by 11 points in this year’s league decider.
But Galway manager Cathal Murray – who has now led the county to three All-Ireland titles (2019, 2021, 2025) – says some good old-fashioned “everybody was writing us off” motivation helped stir the blood.
“There is huge hurt in our camp from last year,” admitted Murray.
“We were written off completely [ahead of this game]. The Irish Examiner yesterday, any Galway person or player reading that – our player rating – go back and read and it is absolutely f**king insulting.
“I thought it was the biggest insult ever. But that is coming out for the last week, two weeks; we were given no chance.
“I know the league, we were poor in the league final, there’s no doubt about that, but we probably got to the league final because other teams probably didn’t do their job.
“We were never really going at full pelt, we won two or three of our games by just a point or two. We probably didn’t have the work done, that was down to ourselves as management; there were different things in the camp that weren’t in place in time.”
Murray added that he had told the players after last year’s final defeat that he was stepping down, but ultimately he resolved to stick around for 2025.
“Maybe unfinished business. When we look back on it, as management, we felt we got an awful lot right. There’s always just that regret that it just wasn’t the right time to walk away. Obviously, we’re proved right now.
“But to be honest with you, at times this year, in January, February, I said, ‘Oh Jesus, why the f*ck did I stay going?’ Especially after the league final. I mean, to be honest with you, management-wise, we were terrible in the league final. We were shocking. And we weren’t much better on the field either.
“But, you know, it wasn’t a typical Galway performance, to be honest with you, and in fairness, for us, I think the best thing we did is we drew a line through it. We didn’t even look back on it. We drew a line through it, and we said, we’re going to concentrate on the Dublin game now in the championship.”
