Sara Hayes recalls seeing Saoirse McCarthy for the first time at Courcey Rovers camogie training. Hayes, a five-time All-Ireland winner with Cork, was over the club's under-16 side.
"When I first saw her, I was like, 'Holy God. There's a talent in the making here'," Hayes tells Balls.
"She was a loose cannon, not the type of player you could put marking anybody. I put her in midfield and I was like, go where you like. Players were trying to follow her. She's not going to have to follow anyone.
"She was phenomenal, even at that age. She's the same player but she's just much smarter. She was probably trying to do it all on her own."
9 September 2018; Cork players Saoirse McCarthy, left, and Ashling Thompson celebrate after the Liberty Insurance All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship Final match between Cork and Kilkenny at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
The bones of a decade on, McCarthy's potential is being realised. After a year in which she won her second All-Ireland senior medal, the 23-year-old is on course for her second PwC Camogie All-Star award and is one of three nominees - along with Cork teammate Amy O'Connor and Waterford's Beth Carton - for Player of the Year.
The 2018 season saw McCarthy complete a remarkable treble as she won the All-Ireland minor, intermediate and senior camogie titles. She won the minor title in April, started for the intermediate side in the All-Ireland final, and on the same day took a place on the bench for the senior decider against Kilkenny. In those early days of her Cork career, McCarthy was a forward.
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"When they won the minor All-Ireland, she was playing midfield," says Hayes.
"She got Player of the Match that day. When she went from the minors to the seniors, they put her in corner-forward.
"I was like, 'That's not going to work. That's not for her'. She was too confined."
That was something which the Cork management team, led by Paudie Murray, realised in 2021 when they decided to turn McCarthy into a wing-back. Initially, the player was reluctant to make the move.
12 September 2021; Carrie Dolan of Galway in action against Saoirse McCarthy of Cork during the All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship Final match between Cork and Galway at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Ben McShane/Sportsfile
"Saoirse is not afraid to say what she means," says Matthew Twomey, who was part of Murray's backroom team.
I can remember Paudie pushing it. We were down players in the backline.
We just found that at times, when she was playing in the forwards, by the time she got into her stride, she was nearly at the endline. We were saying if she had more distance out the field [it would suit her].
We were just saying to her that this would benefit the team. When you explained that to her, there was no issue. She got very comfortable very fast.
Twomey took over as Cork manager ahead of the 2022 season and led the team to an All-Ireland final defeat against Kilkenny. Davy Fitzgerald was part of Twomey's backroom team that year and took training back to basics. McCarthy was one of the beneficiaries as she finished the year with her first PwC All-Star award.
"When Davy came in last year, we would have done a ferocious amount of work with the tackling," says Twomey.
"The Camogie Association changed the rules around which benefited the more physical side of things. Saoirse definitely stands out as one of the best players I've seen tackling and standing someone up.
"This year, we utilised her more game-by-game. We played her sometimes in midfield, sometimes at wing-forward. It depended on who we were playing.
"She's probably one of the most versatile players I've ever come across in camogie or hurling. You could play her anywhere."
7 August 2022; Saoirse McCarthy of Cork after her side's defeat in the Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship Final match between Cork and Kilkenny at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
Hayes feels a weakness of McCarthy's game before this year was her delivery of the ball to the forwards.
"She didn't have that," she says.
"She wasn't delivering the ball to the forwards. It's from underage and doing everything herself. Because she has a massive strike of the ball, she can score from 50 yards.
"This was the first year that I saw her delivering really, really good ball. I was like, 'There you have it. The full package is coming'.
"She now knows how to defend without giving away a free. She was giving away a lot of frees before."
In the build-up to this year's All-Ireland final between Cork and Waterford, McCarthy was the name on everyone's lips. "Nobody wanted to mark her. Nobody wanted her near them," says Hayes. She'd had a phenomenal year but did not show that form in the final.
26 March 2023; Saoirse McCarthy of Cork during the Very Camogie League Division 1A match between Kilkenny and Galway at Páirc Ui Chaoimh in Cork. Photo by Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile
"We had a good start in the league and Saoirse would have been very strong," says Twomey.
"We had a dip, lost four games in a row. The league final against Galway, she was immense.
"Through the championship, she was strong but the game against Kilkenny [in the All-Ireland quarter-final], she was unbelievable. Denise Gaule got Player of the Match, and deservedly so, she was outstanding that day, but Saoirse's driving runs were unbelievable, and against Galway [in the semi-final] as well.
Katrina Mackey scores Cork’s second goal after a fantastic run by Saoirse McCarthy. #RTEGAA #Camogie
📺 Watch: https://t.co/GtvBUh0FAD
📱 Updates: https://t.co/5tZ6SZJu8m pic.twitter.com/8Irm4kR1l1— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) July 9, 2023
"We just had them fired up. We had a certain game plan for that game and she was absolutely brilliant. She got a great point in the second half as well, which was a worldy.
"In the final... She's a well and truly marked player. We started her at wing-forward. The game bypassed her a little bit more than her not having a great game. We certainly would not have got to the All-Ireland final without her.
"She's a great character. 300 miles an hour. She'd be the life and soul of the dressing room, definitely. She'd be a great go-to player if someone had an issue, they could go and talk to her.
"She had no issue coming to me with problems or even looking after someone else, 'Would you have a word with her because she's struggling with something?'"
McCarthy has also shown that leadership with Courcey Rovers.
"It's hard coming off the back of a Cork campaign to get going with the club," says Hayes.
"I had a word with her about that, going 'It's hard. It's you've had a long year, but you need to show up for the club'. It's a very long year for the Cork players and then they are expected to perform again.
"They played the first few games and she was phenomenal. Everybody was talking about her. She's just the most beautiful player to watch. She's like a bird in flight when she catches the ball out of the sky. She's at full stretch, full height, jumping higher than anyone else. There's no one near her and she's still doing it. Everyone is just like, 'Oh my God, it's unbelievable to watch'.
"The club realise that she is a phenomenal player. She pulled the club through a lot of those games by herself. She really stands up now. For a young girl who was shy enough, and she's still only [23]. She's now able and has the status to do that."
6 August 2022; Saoirse McCarthy of Cork celebrates with her grand-uncle Paschal Robinson, left, and her parents Cella and Leonard after her side’s victory Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Camogie Championship Premier Senior Final match between Waterford and Cork at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
Hayes would like to see McCarthy settle in one position for Cork. Whether it should be at wing-back or in midfield, she's not sure.
"She's a dynamite wing-back because she's covering the ground all the way back to corner-back," she says.
"She has this do-or-die attitude. If she's up at wing-forward after tackling, she'll still make it back to corner-back.
"I love the pairing of herself and Laura (Hayes) on the opposite sides because they both have huge engines. I put her in midfield but maybe she's on more ball at wing-back."
From a manager's perspective, Twomey - who stepped down as Cork manager in September - says "versatility is huge" but for the player, nailing down a position as her own would be ideal.
"In the final, some people were saying in the commentary that she was in midfield but she started at wing-forward. Her movement was unreal," says Twomey.
"I think she played a game last year with MTU and ended up in goal for a penalty shootout and stopped three penalties and won the game! That's where she's at.
"For herself, if she nailed down a position and really got to grips with that... She's already a fantastic player but she could become one of the greats. No doubt."
