Cork's Ashling Thompson on overcoming injury and setbacks ahead of All-Ireland final

Michael Bolton

As Ashling Thompson prepares for another All-Ireland camogie final with Cork, the road back to Croke Park has been far from easy.

After losing last season's final to Sunday's opponents, Galway, the league came with its problems, especially with several players stepping away from last season.

As the Munster championship ended with defeat to Tipperary, Thompson revealed it made the team reevaluate, as the fourth straight All-Ireland final began to look unlikely.

However, the Rebels made a statement with victory over Galway in the group stages, a moment which Thompson saw as a turning point for the group.

"Initially at the start of the season, you're getting to know brand-new faces, brand-new names, that took a lot of time. Playing in the league, I think for the majority we were playing with three of the starting 15 so that was extremely hard, even in terms of how we wanted to play the game.

"You're getting frustrated, and I suppose you're taking that frustration off at last year's final and comparing, which really isn't fair. So I think we came together after the league, and especially the first round of the Munster Championship, getting knocked out against Tipp and just said, ‘look, we have to be really fair here to the girls.’

"We can't dictate in terms of how we want to play or how we want to do things because this is a whole new group, this is a whole new camp. They deserve to be there as much as we do and they deserve every opportunity in terms of how they want to evolve the game. straight All-Ireland final began to look unlikely.

"Galway are the title holders. They're the standard bearers. So I think the main objective going into that game was to see where we're at. Like, what have we done in the last seven weeks to warrant a place at the top?

"Look, Galway weren't at full strength either SO that's obviously part of it too. But I suppose there were a couple of experienced Cork players missing that day as well like Saoirse McCarthy, Laura Hayes, Emma Murphy."

This week is a familiar one for the Cork woman, as she will line out in her 11th final.

One of the most successful players the sport has seen, Thompson is quick to remind people her record in finals is not what she had hoped for, with six wins in 10.

"So it's a brilliant achievement, but I suppose I always think we've only won six out of 10, like we've lost four of those All-Irelands, and it wouldn't be nice to lose a fifth on Sunday.

"Sure, you take any bit (of success) at all, like you’d take one (All-Ireland), never mind six.

"But I think when you look back on your career, you'd probably look at it more positively, but, as I said, when you're in it, and people ask you how many have you won, you say six but in the back of my mind, I'm like, ‘but we've lost four,’ so we've lost plenty. So, it's almost like six isn't enough, which is probably very greedy."

It looked like Thompson's season was over after a serious injury, which saw her dislocate her arm.

A moment of incredible pain, an injury at this age so serious could have had implications for her career, particularly when surgery was involved.

"I'd rather do two ACLs at the same time, to be honest with you. It was absolutely brutal. I couldn't even describe the pain.

"It was on up in Freshford in Kilkenny. So usually in Nowlan Park you'd have medics and stuff like that so that took a bit of time because we didn't have the same availability that day.

"So you're kind of hanging on for pain relief for the bones of an hour and a half, which was not the greatest. In fairness, Kilkenny were absolutely brilliant; even their physios and everything came straight over and tried to help as much as they could. We finally got to St Luke's, but it (the pain) was absolutely brutal.

"So there was tissue repair and everything that needed to be done, but I never expected surgery so that was obviously a very upsetting phone call to get, especially being caught off guard."

Once the projected timeline was announced, the countdown was on to get back into the Cork team for the business end of the season.

Originally scheduled to return for the semi-finals, the Waterford game in the group stages was the earlier-than-planned comeback, which made the dark days of rehab all the better.

"It was very intense, three to four times a day so obviously I was out of work.

"I actually ended up setting up a home gym because I did not have the patience to be getting into my car three or four times a day to go to a gym.

"I was basically at home, and obviously there’s downsides to that too because you take away the social aspect and for a finish I think I was almost losing my mind over it but once I got back involved with the girls, it was brilliant.

"You had physio appointments, going to a masseuse, your specialists and your consultants, and hammering it three or four times a day."