Sometimes pain is good.
Pain can be used as motivation. It can push players past barriers they never thought possible, and bring to the surface feelings and emotions that can ultimately lead to joy.
For 17 Cahir camogie players this weekend, they will be looking to use the disappointment of losing one All-Ireland already this season to ensure they don’t experience the same devastation this Sunday against Tullaroan in their intermediate camogie semi-final.
For club captain Aisling McCarthy, she hopes her team-mates never have to share a losing dressing-room again after coming so close to glory in the weeks leading up to Christmas.
“There’s 17 girls on ladies football and camogie teams and we played Miltown of Westmeath but we lost 2-14 to 2-12 in the All-Ireland intermediate final. We’re hoping to bottle that feeling and use it as motivation for Sunday.
“It was an awful place to be when we lost. We felt there was more in us. We don’t want to come off with any regrets like the last time.”
Double Munster Intermediate Champions Camogie & Football @AIB_GAA #TheToughest pic.twitter.com/cSzFOnr8c0
— Cahir Camogie Club (@CahirClub) November 29, 2015
The University of Limerick student is one of a number of players who have helped the club make a significant breakthrough in both codes over the last number of years.
The club have won Junior B, Junior A and now intermediate titles in the last number of seasons. The success is all the more remarkable considering Cahir, in the south of the county, is not what Tipperary folk would consider a traditional hurling or camogie area.
Their progress to an All-Ireland final has been marked with some notable wins, none more so than a provincial final victory over Lismore, the defeated all-Ireland finalists in 2015. McCarthy, still just 19, admits it was the club’s toughest test.
“We were underdogs going into it and they were the All-Ireland champions a few years ago and we all stepped up. I got injured as well and that was very tough for me personally to look on. But the girls were a credit to themselves, the club and the county and it was unbelievable to lift the cup after the match.
“Our full-back got injured the same day and maybe other dressing-rooms might have been down and what will we do but we just did what we trained for and showed our character. It was a super test for Sunday.”
Thank you @CahirNews for all the fabalous pics..#MunsterChampions 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🇳🇬🇳🇬🇳🇬👍👍 pic.twitter.com/YOyoFnXLTb
— Cahir Camogie Club (@CahirClub) November 29, 2015
The Kilkenny side are favourites for the encounter, scheduled for Freshford at 2pm, with the Tipperary outfit hoping to cause a major upset. The squad is a mix of girls who have played in the same teams since Under-14 all the way up to senior and older players who are new to success.
“Laura Dillion. We call her ‘The Thug’. She thinks she’s playing rugby half the time. She puts her head where a lot of girls wouldn’t put their hurley. She’s just mental really.
“I think she enjoys the nickname, she lives up to it, she wouldn’t be afraid to throw a fee digs even though she very quiet off the pitch.”
Having climbed from Jnr B to Snr in only 3 years, can @CahirClub now book their place in an AI final? #TheToughest pic.twitter.com/SllFyB7t1d
— AIB_GAA (@AIB_GAA) January 28, 2016
Aisling is based in Limerick, where she is studying physiotherapy, and has to travel about an hour for training a few times a week. Although she does say that being late is a special habit of two of the team in particular.
“Aoife and Carol, the two daughters of our trainer Marie Casey are always late, I don’t think they own a clock in the house. They have a farm and they always use milking the cows as an excuse.”
The All-Ireland loss by such a small margin is gnawing away at McCarthy, and she concedes that her side will have to play to their absolute best to have any chance of success against the formidable Walsh family that backbone Tullaroan.
But McCarthy feels no side will have as much motivational as the Tipperary champions for success and believes that the club’s strong family bond can be their secret weapon on Sunday.
“One word to describe the girls? Character. On and off the pitch. Big characters in the dressing room and off the pitch. We’ve shown that before and we know we’ll have to show that again this weekend.”
