Ireland winners shouldn't need to raise money

Galway manager Cathal Murray has implored the Camogie Association to start a fund to help contribute towards a holiday - as the GAA do - for All-Ireland camogie finalists after his side had to go around the county last year "asking people for change" to try and get together enough money to celebrate their championship success.

Galway were beaten 2-14 to 0-19 by Cork in Croke Park on Sunday but won the All-Ireland final in 2025 and 2019.

The GAA has a fund of €150,000 which is available to the All-Ireland senior football and hurling finalists annually to go towards a holiday at the end of the season but they same pool of money does not exist in camogie.

"I think Cork and Galway have been unbelievable the last three years and they've brought camogie to a different level. Them girls, when we won the All-Ireland last year, we were out fundraising. The same when we won the All-Ireland in '19. Going around to club matches with buckets asking people for fivers, asking people for tenners, asking people for change," Murray said after the match.

"I think it was 1993 when Eddie O'Connor spoke in the Hogan Stand here. That's nearly 35 years ago now and talked about the GAA providing money for a holiday. I know the GAA are looked after - €150,000 - but I think these girls deserve, they don't need to go out collecting money in the next few weeks to go on holiday.

"We talk about integration and we talk about closing the gap... it was brilliant to hear Brian Molloy saying that he loves canvassing for these players.

"I think these players, I think the camogie, deserves some money to be put into a holiday fund for them players and not to have them out raising money over the next few weeks because Cork were the same in '24. We were the same last year. The two teams have done so much for camogie and so much promotion for the sport that there should be some financial thing there for them and money put in.

"You're not looking for an awful lot of money €20,000-25,000 would do so much for us. We wouldn't have got out last year to New York only for Galway GAA and I couldn't thank them enough for providing us with €100 tickets but we still have to go and sell those tickets and I think the day has come now where if we want to close the gap that's something that we can look at going forward and that's it."

His comments were also supported by his opposition manager, Cork's Ger Manley: "Oh, totally. I suppose we're lucky enough with the sponsors we get, but I'd agree that the girls deserve a break."

"These girls, they put so much more in than the lads, do you know what I mean? It's easy for the lads.

"They [the girls] pay for a lot of stuff themselves. The county board are very good, all right, but we do have to do that type of stuff."

The strong words come after another closely fought battle between the two sides. It's the second year in a row that the final has been decided by a point with just a goal the difference in 2024.

The 2026 final also saw the highest attendance since 1958 (it was the opener to the hurling semi-final between Tipperary and Dublin) with 33,419 turning out at Croke Park and the highest attendance ever when not paired with a hurling game.

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