Opposing players Ashling Thompson and Shauna Healy are testament to sport’s health at club and county levelCork’s Ashling Thompson: 'When people ask how many you’ve won and you say six, in the back of my mind I’m like, "but we lost four".' Photograph: Leah Scholes/INPHO Sat Aug 08 2026 - 06:00 • 3 MIN READCounty rivals, club foes. When Cork and Galway meet in the All-Ireland senior camogie final at Croke Park on Sunday, it’ll be the latest instalment in the history between the counties. But for many players on both sides, the rivalry cuts a layer deeper.In the 62 editions of the All-Ireland senior club championship to date, Galway teams have triumphed on 14 occasions to Cork’s eight. Killimor’s 2010/2011 success and Athenry’s win in January to claim the 2025 title after a replay were both against Cork opponents: Inniscarra and St Finbarrs.On the other side of the coin, in 1993, Glen Rovers fought off Galway’s Mullagh, and the Rebel county’s three subsequent All-Ireland club crowns were won by the same side, Milford, all against Galway teams.The first of those wins, in the 2012/13 decider against the aforementioned Killimor, was Ashling Thompson’s first time playing at Croke Park. On Sunday, she lines out in her 11th All-Ireland final with Cork.“I would always go back to the fact that I probably never would have gave Cork the shot that I gave it without my club,” the 36-year-old said. “I remember I was called in [to the Cork senior squad], I think it was 2006, so 20 years ago, but I didn’t seriously think about committing until after 2013, after our first club All-Ireland victory.Killimor's Claire Conroy and Ashling Thompson of Milford in the 2013 All-Ireland senior camogie club championship final. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/INPHO “It was actually the Milford girls who encouraged me to do it, and I suppose without that I probably never would have said, ‘Sure, look, we’ll give it a crack and see how it goes’.”Signed on for both club and county in 2013, Thompson was a starter in Cork’s one-point semi-final defeat that season, losing out to a Kilkenny side who were ultimately defeated in the decider by Galway. Her intercounty season cut two weeks short, Thompson’s focus switched back to Milford and retaining their All-Ireland honours.Despite the club’s youth, having been set up in 1997, they managed the feat, with Thompson putting in a player-of-the-match performance to help deliver them back to the top spot, seeing off Ardrahan of Galway.Shauna Healy – who will be togged for Cathal Murray’s Galway side on Sunday, but who admits she is unlikely to feature, having given birth to her second child four months ago – was on the losing team that day.“I can’t remember a whole pile about it, to be quite honest,” the five-time All Star said. “I just know we got beaten.”Ardrahan's Shauna Healy looks dejected after the 2014 All-Ireland camogie senior club championship final against Milford. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/INPHO On trying to rally the team after such a heartbreaking loss, Milford won 0-6 to 0-5, Healy says: “We did all right. We persevered. We stayed up in senior anyway [in the subsequent seasons], which was a bonus. We had a lot of young players coming through, but then we lost a lot of them to travel.”Another county title followed in 2018, but Ardrahan never got their chance at All-Ireland redemption and are yet to return to the club championship’s showpiece day. But on the personal front, Healy’s three All-Ireland medals offer a comfort, perhaps the latter two in particular, both won against Cork sides featuring Milford’s key asset, Thompson.Cork's Ashling Thompson and Galway's Shauna Healy in the stands at Croke Park in advance of Sunday's All-Ireland camogie championship final. Photograph: James Crombie/INPHO Their respective careers are a testament to camogie’s rude health in the two counties. Between them, Cork and Galway have earned seven of the last 10 All-Ireland senior titles.“The club scene down here is very strong,” Healy said. “You have Sarsfields, Athenry, a lot of upcoming teams like Clarinbridge, they’re all very good.“It’s mighty. It drives the standard of the county set-up.”For Thompson, another thing that drives a county on is a constant desire for more, which she has in abundance.“I always think we’ve only won six out of 10,” she says, referencing the deciders Cork have reached since 2014. “We’ve lost four of those All-Irelands. It wouldn’t be nice to lose a fifth on Sunday.“I think when you look back on your career, you’d probably look back on it more positively, but when you’re in it and people ask you how many you’ve won and you say six, in the back of my mind I’m like, ‘But we lost four, like. We’ve lost plenty’.“It’s almost like six isn’t enough, which is probably very greedy, but finals are there to be won, and seven sounds better than six.”Thompson and Healy have crossed paths on the field many times. With neither showing any signs of stopping, they’re unlikely to be rid of each other come the final whistle on Sunday either.IN THIS SECTION