Cork great Pamela Mackey remains as hungry as ever for glory

Pamela Mackey is one of the legends of camogie, still among the cream of the crop 15 years after making her senior debut.

When the four-time All-Star took a year out in 2022, there were some who thought the Douglas defender was retiring. The thought never even entered her head. This was about refuelling. And the appetite remains unsated, despite adding a sixth Glen Dimplex All-Ireland senior camogie title last year.

"I'm a competitive person and every year, I like to be challenging myself," says Mackey of her enduring motivation. "And I love winning. I’m there to win All-Irelands. And I find training enjoyable and that’s down to the trainers and management, that there’s variability from year to year.

"And then seeing new players come onto the panel. That’s something that drives myself and Katrina. You want to be the best player you can be and when you see the younger players raising the standards, that makes you work harder 'cos you say, ‘I want to be the best player on the field.’

"That’s what motivates me. I like winning but I love that competitive side of it as well."

Katrina is her identical twin, who is on an unbroken run of 16 consecutive seasons of championship camogie having made the breakthrough alongside her sister.

There was a time when they were inseparable and people thought they would never do anything different. After secondary school, they did the same degree at UCC (BSc in chemistry with forensic science – Pamela graduated top of her class with a first-class degree) and even the same PhD.

"When we were young we did everything together. After school we studied the same course, had the same supervisor for our PhD but it was good to have that separation a bit when we went out into the working world! I moved