Camogie stars honoured for August
Finbarr McCarthy
Cork’s achievement in winning the All-Ireland Senior and Intermediate All-Ireland camogie titles on a magical Sunday in Croke Park was acknowledged recently when Intermediate player Aoife Barrett and Senior player Pamela Mackey were joint winners of the 96FM/C103 Sport Star winners for August in association with the Rochestown Park Hotel.
Both players are defenders and were worthy recipients as all through the season, they displayed a level of consistency that was crucial to Cork’s double.
Aoife from the Aghabulloge club said: “This is a lovely honour to get and I am delighted to be here, my thanks to all who helped make it possible.”
It was she said, “a brilliant season, winning the league and then adding the All-Ireland after some very tough games showed the resolve within the group”.
What made All-Ireland Final day extra special was sharing it with her clubmates Meabh Ring and Emma Flanagan, while Aoife was also named on the Soaring Stars team of the year competing a nice week for the talented defender.
Honours are nothing new to Douglas star Pamela who along with her sister Catriona was winning her 7th All-Ireland medal and like Aoife, she was thrilled to be accepting this award.
“Every award is nice and this one is an unexpected one but thrilled to be here and I would like to acknowledge the work that everyone put in all year to get us to Croke Park.”
Cork had a change of management at the start of the year, but once the league was over, they had only one goal - retain the All-Ireland. “We worked hard, won the Munster title, went direct to the semi-final and that gave us plenty of time to prepare for what we knew would be a tough test from Galway.”
And a test it was but one they passed with flying colours. “It was a great win and probably more satisfying than the win over Waterford last year.”
With 7 medals is Pamela going for the 8th? “No doubt about it really - looking forward to next season already.”
Cork County Board Chairman Pat Horgan congratulated both players and management on their wins and looked forward to working with Camogie Board going forward on all matters.
Tom Tobin of Rochestown Park Hotel and Isabel Keane of 96FM also congratulated Aoife and Pamela on their awards and wished them continued success for the rest of the season.
Donie Daly Cork Intermediate Manager was in attendance along with Padraig Treacy, Marion McCarthy and Lillian Zinkant from the Cork Camogie Board; Francis Kenneally County GAA PRO, along with family and friends including Pamela’s sister Catriona were also present to acknowledge two quality and worthy recipients.
Aoife and Pamela now join the previous monthly winners ahead of the gala banquet on 31 January at which the overall winner will be announced.
The monthly winners to date are:
January - Joint winners: St Catherine’s Sean O’Donoghue and Castlelyons Alan Fenton
February - Colin O’Brien Mary I College Fitzgibbon Cup winners
March - All-Ireland Handball champions Michael Hedigan and Daniel Relihan
April - Cork and St Finbarr’s hurler William Buckley
May - Cork Camogie player St Catherine’s Laura Hayes.
June - Daniel O’Mahoney Cork and Knocknagree footballer
July - Robert Downey Cork and Glen Rovers hurler