Cork captain Geary every chance to flower against Kilkenny

It was in the minutes after the All-Ireland semi-final defeat of Wexford that Anna Geary came to fully appreciate her new public profile.

Earlier in the summer, she was best known as Cork’s camogie captain.

That’s more than enough for most but by fulfilling a life’s ambition and competing in the Rose of Tralee contest, the 26-year old was thrust into all kinds of new situations.

Without reservation she says she has loved it, insisting that the contest element was actually incidental to simply spending time with like-minded, fun-loving women.

After the Philadelphia Rose walked away with the garlands, Geary might have presumed her 15 minutes of fame had elapsed though that afternoon after beating Wexford, it became clear she will be a Rose for life.

“After that game, some young kids came up to saying, ‘come here, I want to take your picture’,” recalled Geary. “I was like, okay, it’s because I’m Cork captain or whatever but one of them said, ‘Mam, come on, she’s the Cork Rose’.

“So it was nice. You got to reach far beyond the GAA and in a roundabout way you were promoting camogie too because I am the Cork camogie captain. Every time they referred to the Cork Rose, they also said, ‘She’s also the Cork camogie captain’. So I like to think I was increasing awareness of camogie as well.”

The Rose experience alone would have made Geary’s year though she has also helped her club, Milford, to win back-to-back All-Ireland club titles.

Tomorrow, she can put the tin hat on an incredible few months by captaining Cork to a first All-Ireland title in five years, the fourth of her career.

“I suppose if I was thinking about it going, ‘Hmmm, Milford to do well, Cork to do well, being the Cork Rose, for certain it would go down as one of those years where you ticked all the boxes,” said Geary. “But, look, I’m not going to take anything for granted.

“We’re so close to getting there but if we take anything for granted, we’ll come out the wrong side of it.”

Cork play a Kilkenny side still smarting from last year’s final defeat to Galway. They are chasing a first title since 1994 and are captained by Leann Fennelly.