Cork's McCarthy not stuck in the middle with latest role

The lifestyle of a high-performance sportsperson dictates that you grasp the chance for an away day whenever and wherever you can.

This is particularly true of Gaelic games county players, most of whom must combine that level of conditioning, preparation and playing with an actual paying profession or studies.

So it was that Cork's Saoirse McCarthy took advantage of the fortnight break between the last round of the Very Camogie League Division 1A group stages and tomorrow’s final against Galway (live on RTÉ2), as well as the Easter mid-term ahead of her fourth and final year sport and lifestyle management exams at MTU, to jump in the car and take a quick spin to Waterford city for a night away with her mother last week.

She still manages to fit in this conversation from their hotel room, with Cella "rolling her eyes at me," before heading out to browse through the shops and go for something to eat.

It is a welcome insertion of balance into her schedule, but that is not to imply that McCarthy is desperate to escape.

Far from it, but it is just another element of the overall package.

Initially, the Courcey Rovers star struggled to really establish herself at senior level in the attacking role she favoured and in which she had wowed mentors and supporters alike through the grades with Cork.

In 2018, she completed a sensational All-Ireland treble as part of the last squad to win a senior title, having relished Croke Park’s open spaces in the intermediate final and pocketed a minor memento earlier in the year.

At the beginning of 2021, Paudie Murray came up with a left-field suggestion that she wasn’t enamoured with at all, but the switch to wing-back heralded an acceleration of performance levels that finally allowed McCarthy to