McGrath shows the way in terms of bouncebackability

By Thomas Conway

Over these past couple of years Eimear McGrath has learned to roll with the punches.

The talismanic Tipperary forward sustained one of those dreaded cruciate ligament injuries while playing for her club Drom & Inch in autumn 2024. As a consequence, she missed the entirety of the 2025 inter-county season, in which Tipp were ultimately felled by eventual All-Ireland champions Galway at the semi-final stage.

Looking back, however, the 25-year-old teacher believes that the extended break might actually have been beneficial. She has been playing camogie intensively – at club, school, college and inter-county level – ever since she was a teenager.

While nobody welcomes an injury such as an ACL tear, the extended recovery time did provide her with somewhat of a breather.

“Obviously it’s devastating when it happens,” she recalls.

“But you just kind of have to roll with it. And from my perspective it was probably the only break I’ve ever taken from camogie.”

In fairness, she has bounced back with a bang. Having accumulated 1-25 over the course of the League, she then helped guide Tipp to a Munster Championship crown. But James Heffernan’s side are now chasing higher honours.

This Saturday in Thurles, they will confront Cork for a place in the 2026 All-Ireland final. Recent history is not in their favour. Tipp’s All-Ireland semi-final record is, well, underwhelming.

“There’s no shying away from the fact that we’ve struggled at the semi-final stage before, but this is a new game,” McGrath says.

“I have never played Cork in a semi-final.”

However, Tipp have played Cork three times already this year, most recently in the group-stage of the All-Ireland series, also in Thurles, where they suffered a three-point defeat. They also endured losses to Waterford and Galway, and McGrath acknowledges that there has been some commentary around the fact that Tipp failed to win a group-stage game and are now contesting a semi-final.

However, she says that is the format. Tipp produced some creditable performances in those games and subsequently went on to comfortably dismiss Clare. They are in this semi-final on merit.

McGrath says that: “everyone is now just excited to get going” and feels that the three-week break since the quarter-final has “probably done more harm than good”.

Tipp have used the window to first rest and recover and then put in a good bloc of training. She feels that they are primed for Saturday but cautions that Cork will be equally motivated.

Will the home venue and indeed the home crowd grant Tipp a decisive advantage? To a certain extent, but McGrath says that she has “never met a player who doesn’t like playing in Semple Stadium” and that Cork will be comfortable in their surroundings as well.

Still, Tipp have effectively been building to this since last year’s defeat to Galway in Nowlan Park. When the venue was announced as Semple Stadium, she says the Tipp players were delighted.

“It probably gave us that extra incentive to get back to a semi-final,” she remarked.

Much will hinge on the performance of McGrath’s former student and teammate Caoimhe Stakelum, who secured the player of the match award in the quarter-final against Clare and is widely regarded as one of the most exciting prospects in the inter-county game.

“Caoimhe has a lot of what you’re looking for in a forward, but her presence around the place is probably what has really impressed me the most,” McGrath says.

“She has bedded in so well with everyone. You’d hardly know that it’s her first year on the panel.”

Cork will look to contain the young Thurles Sarsfields prodigy, just as they will look to subdue the sweet-striking McGrath. You get the sense, however, that regardless of what Ger Manley’s side throws at Tipp, the Premier will adapt. This one should be close, but Tipp feel ready.