Tipp's Clodagh McIntyre keeping perspective in pursuit of glory

An inalienable truth about happy, healthy and thriving environments is that they don't contain many energy suckers, if any, but are heavily populated by positive people.

Denis Kelly and his Tipperary brains trust must count their blessings every day Clodagh McIntyre rocks up for training, not least when building up to today’s Very Camogie League Division 1A final against three-in-a-row chasing champions Galway at Croke Park (2.30pm, live on RTÉ 2 as part of a triple-header with the Division 2A final between Derry and Westmeath and the Leinster SFC clash of Dublin versus Meath).

Doctors have written far fewer effective prescriptions than what a course of chatting to McIntyre might cure.

You can just imagine someone pulling into the Tipperary Camogie Grounds at the Ragg after a tough day, not in the mood for anything. Then McIntyre bounces through the door, oozing optimism in word, the delivery of those words and in her body language. A dose of Clodagh and everyone is ready for road.

What should give us all hope is that there was a time that sunny disposition tended to disappear in the build-up to games. The Lorrha speedster would become enslaved by a negative mindset focusing on all that could go wrong.

A bad injury was the catalyst for the metamorphosis, providing an opportunity to take a yoga teaching course in her final year studying physiotherapy. The physical and mental benefits of a yogi lifestyle are seen in every aspect of McIntyre’s life now, camogie included.

"When I look back at videos of me before I'd be playing and my shoulders could be up to my ears and I’d be looking so tense..."

"I would advocate to everyone to try and find a yoga class," she says. "It ties in nicely with the physio side but in terms of a