Amy O'Connor had couple of points she wanted to get off her chest on Monday.
Number one: despite having won four of the past five camogie All-Ireland finals, all the Cork team have received in terms of a team holiday is a few days in Spain, and that was paid for by their own fundraising.
"No, sure we're only women, we don't get any holidays," O'Connor said at the launch of the 2019 Littlewoods Ireland Camogie Leagues.
"Unless you fundraise yourself and it's actually not worth the hassle. Last year we went to Fuengirola for three or four days. But the cost of the trip, it's not worth it, to be honest. We might try and get a weekend away sometime in April.
"It makes my blood boil. No disrespect but the Fenway classic, I think 40 Cork players [went]. It's a bit of a joke to be honest. It would make your blood boil. They won Munster, fair play but it was their extended panel. If they brought 20 players because they only needed 15 and five subs, fair enough but they brought an extended panel.
"And then the [ Wild Geese game] in Australia. I know it's all sponsorship [that] paid for it but still, it would make your blood boil that we won an All-Ireland four out of five years and the furthest we got was Fuengirola.
"It is frustrating. Why should the boys be paid for and we're not?"
O'Connor, who at just 22 has already played in five All-Ireland finals, winning four of them, would like to see the Camogie Association merge with the GAA.
I think it'll take years. We'd love to see it that way but I'm not sure if it's in the pipeline. It's definitely something that can only help the game of camogie. The GAA is such a big organisation, it would only help.
Cork claimed last year's All-Ireland title with a single point win over Kilkenny. It was yet another low-scoring, scrappy game between the two rivals.
The lack of entertaining games when camogie enters the latter stages of the championship troubles O'Connor. That is point number two.
"It's terrible to watch. I actually haven't watched it back, it's awful. It kind of frustrates me that the games that are televised are terrible to watch and they're not doing the game any favours at all. They're boring to watch and constantly stop-start.
"Ultimately, camogie has become a game of free-takers, especially in the latter stage of the championships. I couldn't say it in the earlier stages because the games are more free flowing but I think when everything is on tele, I think the referees might be under a bit of pressure to play to the rules.
"And I actually don't blame the refs for stopping and starting because at the end of the day, they're only playing by the rules. You can't blame them.
"[There's] a bit of inconsistency in refereeing as well. One week you go out and it's a free, another week you go out and it wouldn't be a free. You're going out to play a game and nearly seeing who the referee is and you'd have to adjust how you tackle someone.
"I don't know if the advantage rule is being played as well as it could be. It's terrible to watch and it's not doing the game any favours.
"The Dublin and Cork ladies footballers, that [All-Ireland final] was brilliant to watch because both teams went out and genuinely went to win the game whereas other teams are not going out to win, they're going out not to lose.
"It's just not doing the game any favours.
"I think the Galway and Kilkenny semi-final was the same, a terrible game to watch. People are not getting to display what they can do on the pitch. There's some lovely hurlers but they just don't get to show it because they're not allowed to.
"It keeps getting pulled up.
"I think people are getting bored of the rivalry between Cork and Kilkenny. And I think people are getting even more bored by 0-10 0-09 games, it's not good for the game."
Littlewoods Ireland and the Camogie Association were today joined by a host of Ireland’s top Camogie players including All-Ireland winner Amy O’Connor from Cork and Waterford superstar Niamh Rockett to launch the 2019 Littlewoods Ireland Camogie Leagues. This season Littlewoods Ireland will shine a light on Camogie and women’s sport by live streaming a minimum of six games over the course of the National Camogie Leagues. The aim is to continue to raise awareness of the sport, the skill on the pitch and the highly competitive clashes by ultimately reaching over 100,000 fans through the broadcasts.
Photos by Sportsfile and INPHO
