Kilkenny manager Brian Dowling reflected on an All-Ireland camogie title won the hardest way possible.
Retirements, injuries, withdrawals, rank bad luck and a couple of tragedies all affected the group at different stages this year but somehow they navigated all those obstacles.
And if karma exists then it finally swung in Kilkenny’s favour as they came from two points down to topple Cork with a 58th-minute Sophie Dwyer goal followed by a stoppage-time Denise Gaule match-winning point.
READ MORE: Recap and result from the All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship final
“The off the field stuff was very tough,” said Dowling. “A lot of stuff happened in March and April, obviously our coach Tommy Shefflin’s brother, Paul, passed away. Then my own uncle passed away in a house fire.
“Aoife Prendergast’s granddad passed away. Ciara Phelan’s granddad passed away and everything just happened in a couple of weeks and then to have Kellyann Doyle’s and Aoife Doyle’s cruciate injuries on top of that.
“It just seemed that everything was going wrong. I don’t know, we just sort of galvanised ourselves, that team spirit within the group, you stay going and stay going.
“We said it on Friday night in the team meeting, ‘Look, the amount of things that were thrown at this group this year and here we are, still fighting, still in with a chance of winning an All-Ireland’. I’m just so proud of them that they were able to get through all of that and whatever went on.
“We had new girls stepping up, the likes of Tiffanie Fitzgerald who went up and scored the first point of the game, she’s a corner-back, 19 years of age. That’s just incredible. That sums up the whole thing I suppose.”
Dowling referenced Grace Walsh too and her indomitable spirit.
With injuries and retirements forcing Dowling to restructure his defence, Walsh was asked to forsake her attacking instincts and to play at number three.
It was her powerful run and pass to cousin Miriam Walsh that drew the free that Gaule converted to secure the win.
“If you heard Grace Walsh speaking in the dressing-room the last few days, it just put the hairs standing up on the back of your neck,” said Dowling.
“It was unbelievable. She couldn’t breathe coming in at half-time, she got a belt in her stomach. That girl just won’t back down from anything. I’d like to mention them all, there’s just so many characters there. Different ones stepped up at different times. That’s what it’s about.”
“In the 55th minute, I looked up at the clock and you see that you are two points up and you are kind of saying, ‘Is this our day?’” said Cork senior manager Matthew Twomey.
“We are still trying to do the right things and then you get a little break like that with their goal and then their gander is up and it was very hard to claw it back.
“Fair play to Kilkenny, they are an awesome team when they get into a position like that.”
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