Cork are tame without Ashling Thompson – she can be the Rebels’ game-winner

Ursula Jacob

If Kilkenny give Ashling Thompson as much space as she had against Waterford in the semi-final then she will cause a lot of damage. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

August 06 2022 02:30 AM

If Cork are to put the hurt of last year’s final behind them, and get across the line tomorrow, then the key area to win is midfield. Thankfully for them, they’ve a player more than capable of winning the war that will unfold there: Ashling Thompson.

To me, she’s the most important and influential player for Cork, and while she can count herself lucky to have got off on appeal for the semi-final, once she came off the bench her impact was immediate.

They looked tame without her for the first 22 minutes but when she was on she offered that added foil across the half-back line because Laura Treacy at centre-back likes to sit in the pocket in front of the full-back line, sweeping along the line, and Ashling offers protection in front of her.

The aspects of Thompson’s game that are most impressive? Her athleticism and physicality. She can be an intimidating figure on the pitch and she covers huge ground. She’s the main link-up player between the forwards and at the start of the semi-final they were missing that. The ball wasn’t transitioning fast enough and when she came on, she immediately won possession on the half-back line, hitting a long delivery into Katrina Mackey, who opened the scoring for Cork. Kilkenny are going to be very, very wary of Thompson and her sidekick at midfield, Hannah Looney. They’re the engine of this Cork team. Everything goes through them.

How to stop Thompson? I think Kilkenny will man-mark her. The last day, Katie Power and Laura Murphy were midfield for Kilkenny and I wouldn’t be surprised if Power picks up Thompson tomorrow. The reason is: if Thompson sits back in the half-back line, Power will feel comfortable there because she’s a natural forward.

Power is very physical, athletic and has the fitness levels to match Thompson. Kilkenny simply can’t afford to give Thompson the space she had against Waterford because the more she gets, the more time she has to look up and deliver the ball into the full-forward line.

The one criticism I’d have of Cork: at times they overplay it. When you’ve Amy O’Connor and Katrina Mackey inside, sometimes they’re too slow with the build-up and getting the ball into them. I’d like to see them play more to their strengths, hitting it into space and letting them run on to it. They’re the danger women who’ll get the scores and win frees.

Kilkenny play a similar style to Cork but I don’t think it’s as well suited to them. They’re better going a bit more direct. When I look at last year’s semi-final between these two, which Cork won by a point, Kilkenny got turned over repeatedly. In the first half they lost 80 per cent of their possession; in the second half it was 77 per cent. That shows how dominant Cork were in the tackle.

Kilkenny are brilliant hurlers but they might have to play to their strength and shoot from distance tomorrow. These girls are well able to score from 45 or 50 metres out and they need to utilise that because Cork are a tight, compact defence. If Kilkenny’s half-forward line pull out the field a little more, it forces Cork’s half-back line to a decision. Do they go out and track them? Or do they hold back and stay tight?

There were a lot of similarities between the two teams in their semi-finals. Both were trailing at half-time, both finished strong – Cork with eight points on the bounce and Kilkenny with the last four points. Their discipline was excellent. Kilkenny restricted Galway’s to one point from play in the second half, while Cork’s defence held Waterford scoreless in the last 15 minutes, so you can see the strength in both defences.

There’ll be very little between these two. In their last five championship meetings, Cork have won three, Kilkenny won two, and the margin was always tight. I expect the same tomorrow. I’m expecting a physical battle and I just hope it’s as free-flowing as possible.

For me, losing last year’s final might be the edge that carries Cork across the line. They were hurting big time but from my experience of playing Cork, they’re the one team that seems to learn a huge amount from a loss. They’ll have really looked in depth at what they can improve on and how did they go one step higher this year. If Cork win that midfield battle, I think this will be their year.

If either manages to get a goal, it’ll prove crucial, but I see this as a low-scoring game where every point is precious. It could be one dramatic point that decides it – one moment of magic to swing the whole season.