‘It was so important for young girls of Waterford to see their senior camogie team playing in the All-Ireland final’

The excitement bubbled to overflowing. From the very second they overcame Tipperary in a throbbing semi-final by a point, in the rain of Nowlan Park.

But on the big August afternoon, and on the big stage, Cork started, and finished, like they owned the place.

They showed such determination. And class. And anytime that Amy O’Connor got on the ball, the sliotar was covered in gold dust.

“It was a huge occasion for the county,” recalls Waterford’s Keeley Corbett-Barry. “It was so important for the young girls of Waterford to see their senior team playing in the All-Ireland final. That will instil confidence in the underage structure. It will bring them on. It will give them something to aspire to.

“We know it didn’t go our way. We didn’t perform. But we have parked it now. We learned a lot from it. You always learn so much from defeats.

“We haven’t let it bother us. We are very resilient. Anything that comes our way, we’ll meet it head-on.

“We showed that last year when we suffered a pretty heavy defeat to Tipperary in the Munster Championship semi-final.”

Waterford are back in the Munster final this Sunday, having overcome Tipp in the semi-final. They’ll face Cork at FBD Semple Stadium (1.45).

It forms a double-bill with Tipperary v Cork in the Munster Senior Hurling championship (4.0).

“There’s a good buzz about the Munster final,” states Keeley. “It’s been a while since the Munster Championship title came back to Waterford. A bit of silverware would be nice.

“The preparations are going well. We have a new management and plenty of new faces on the squad. Everyone is fighting for a spot.

“The All-Ireland series begins the following week when we play Tipp at the Ragg, so it will be straight into it. And like everyone else, we are on the ground floor, starting off from scratch.

“There’s two groups, so there will be plenty of games. That is what you want.”

A record attendance of over 30,000 attended last year’s All-Ireland final.

“Camogie is growing. I feel the Championship is now more open and competitive with more teams in the mix for honours.”

Waterford are in Group 1 with Tipperary, Derry, Limerick, Antrim and Kilkenny.

“The team that tops the group goes straight into the semi-final, with the second and third-placed team progressing to the quarter-finals.

“Our aim would be to make the All-Ireland semi-final and final. We feel we have developed from last season, so we’ll keep building.”

Keeley is a student at SETU, Waterford, studying public health and health promotion.

She played hurling with the boys until U-12 level.

“There was no camogie club near me back then. But now there are so many new camogie clubs in Waterford. And you have under-6 and under-7 grades, which is brilliant to see.

“There’s a big interest in the county. The numbers have increased so much. We feel we are the role-models for the players coming up, so it’s important that we continue to do well for them.”