Talking points: Who will get the task of curbing classy Carton?

Aug 12, 2023

DANGER HERE: Waterford's Beth Carton takes a shot. Pic: ©INPHO/Tom Maher

How will Waterford handle the occasion?

If a week is a long time in politics, I’m not sure what 78 years in camogie is, but it is 1945 since Waterford contested a Senior Final, losing out to Antrim by 5-2 to 3-2. By my reckoning, Cork have played in 44 Senior finals since, winning 23. Differing fortunes, but you need to look at where Waterford camogie has come from in the past 12 years to fully appreciate this achievement. Having finally annexed the Junior title in 2011 at the third time of asking, they followed up with Intermediate success in 2015 and are now one hour away from securing the county’s first ever Senior title. Niamh Rockett could create her own little bit of history by winning all three medals.

How Waterford handle an occasion this seismic will be crucial. While they have experience of Croke Park, a senior final is different. You have all the added pageantry, the parade, the President, added to the circus that can accompany everything you do in the two weeks between semi-final and final.

They are fortunate their manager, Sean Power, has guided the Waterford minor hurlers team to the county’s first All-Ireland success at that grade in 65 years in 2016. He, of all people, will know how to handle the pressure of the occasion and the expectation of a county.

Who will counter Carton?

Beth Carton's scoring exploits for club, county and college are one thing. What the numbers don't tell you is how the the De La Salle star reads, manages and influences games, how her hurling brain is as phenomenal as her execution of the skills. She often operates at a level above everyone else. Watch back the goal against Antrim in this year’s final group game, a perfectly weighted lob of the keeper, just one of her 2023 highlights, to date.

She is a marked player every day, as she will be this Sunday. Who Cork choose to pick her up will have a telling influence on the game. It was Katie O'Mahony for the opening 20 minutes of last year's All-Ireland semi before she was withdrawn and Ashling Thompson introduced. Laura Treacy pushed forward onto Carton from there with Thompson sitting deeper.

However Beth showed in this year’s semi-final victory over Tipperary that she is equally as comfortable in her own full back line as she is in the full forward line. If she cannot get on enough ball up front or supply is limited she is well capable of coming deeper and becoming a playmaker. Matthew Twomey may choose to deploy someone like Aoife Healy to try to curb Carton’s influence. The emerging dual star would seem ideally suited to following Carton and being comfortable anywhere on the field.

Whoever gets the task, curbing Carton would go a long way to getting Cork over the line.

Bounce from the bench

Matthew Twomey has openly admitted he and his fellow selectors face a massive headache in selecting their starting 15 – 20 into 15 just doesn’t go and realistically Cork have an embarrassment of riches, a problem they could only have dreamed of when they struggled with injuries right through League and Championship. If you can time a run, Cork have done it to perfection, getting valuable game time into the recovering Thompson, Cronin, Hayes and Cahalane in the quarter-final victory over Kilkenny. They were all introduced again in the semi-final and didn’t just add game time but contributed to the end result, adamantly putting their hands up for selection for the final. None more so than the in-form Cliona Healy who added two points when introduced. But an impact bench comes with its own complications. These are competitive athletes and everyone wants to start a final. Managing expectations and emotions is a huge balancing act.

The final camogie deserves

All-Ireland camogie finals day is like no other in Croke Park. We might lag behind our GAA counterparts in terms of numbers and ticket sales, but we more than make up for it with a sea of colour and a wall of noise. Everyone in the crowd at a camogie final is a participant and I fully expect Sunday to be the best yet. Extra trains from Kent and Plunkett stations, queues for the turnstiles and record-breaking attendances are what our game deserves.

Nowlan Park was humming two weeks ago for the semi-finals, there were traffic and parking conundrums, there were hats, flags and headbands and there was noise and lots of it. It was a privilege to sense that excitement, which has been missing from the closing stages of the competition for some years.

Waterford brought a huge crowd and you could feel the stand shake with each score as they reeled Tipperary in. Cork too brought big numbers and plenty of colour and will do so again.

So, who will win?

Cork are favourites and rightly so, they have definitely had the tougher route to Sunday’s final. Despite an opening-round defeat to Galway, they have gone on to dethrone champions Kilkenny, before turning the tables on Galway at the fourth time of asking. That they could have won both games by a greater margin is both impressive and concerning – they were a better team than one- and three-point winning margins suggest but they ground out victory in tight games, something they had previously been failing to do.

Despite playing out of Division 1B and the seemingly easier championship group, that win over Tipperary and the Munster championship victory over Cork should give Waterford every right to be confident. Interestingly when they won the Junior All-Ireland in 2011, they doubled up with the Division 2 League title. When they won the Intermediate All-Ireland in 2015, they did likewise. In 2023, they have already captured the Division 1B League title – could the Deise double be on again?