It might be a year on but even now Ashling Thompson is still taking in the moment she raised the O'Duffy Cup in Croke Park after captaining Cork to their 26th senior All-Ireland camogie title, putting them level with Dublin at the top of the roll of honour.
She was dazed when she made her way up the steps of the Hogan Stand after a late clash in the game, but she wasn’t going to be denied a moment that was not only historic for her county, but also signified a precious personal triumph in her journey.
“Ah, it’s so hard to describe what it meant. Nothing was going to stop me from getting up there, not even if I’d broken my leg,” she says.
“It’ll take a long time yet to actually realise how much it’s impacted my life. I mean, look where I am today? I literally went from being inside my room all day, wondering if I could go on, to being a five-time All-Ireland winner with my club and county in the space of four years. It’s just about holding on. Things always get better.”
The 26-year-old has become a powerful voice on mental health issues since first opening up about her own battle with depression, much of her time since spent reading emails from others going through similar experiences.
Unbelievable impact
“That’s exactly the way I wanted to use the captaincy, to use the platform I was put up on, I saw it as my chance to get my story out there. And now I get so many messages, they give me goosebumps, the impact is unbelievable. Notes from every age, every walk of life,” Thompson says.
“They might be feeling a bit down and they’re uplifted by something I said, encouraged, and they let me know. That means everything to me.”
She has spoken often of the impact camogie has had on her recovery – notably the role played by Frank Flannery, her coach at Milford – from a spell when she said she was like a “ticking time bomb ready to explode”.
“It nearly got the better of me. It was going either way. It was definitely my sport that helped me start picking myself up,” she says.
“It’s that one person you need, that one voice that you can just open up to. For me it was my coach. And you will find that one person. You will come through it eventually. And things always do get better, even if you mightn’t see that at the time.
“As I opened up and went back to my sport, got more involved with my friends, getting out there, not sitting in my room all day, eating healthily, the difference it made was crazy. It just shows how quickly you can turn things around when you might be thinking, ‘I can’t go on, there’s nothing out there for me’. And that’s the way I used to think.”
“So sport will always be my first love, it’s what got me through dark times. It was like my family, always there for me.”
Her success at club and county level has been an additional tonic. She hasn’t had much experience of losing, but when it happens it just drives her on.
“I’m a very, very sore loser,” Thompson says. “It would kill me for about six months. When we [Milford] lost in the All-Ireland semi last year, I was still ropey enough six months down the line.
“We hadn’t been defeated in 23 championship games so once you’re beaten you’re just hungrier than ever. We came back and won it this year.
“It’s just when you put your whole life in to it. I live an hour and 15 minutes away from training [she is a Limerick-based sports massage therapist], which is three times a week. You’re looking at gym sessions, all that, it’s a lifetime job, you know?”
Hard game
Kilkenny, Cork’s opponents on Sunday, haven’t tasted All-Ireland success since 1994, and Thompson hopes they can extend their drought.
“It’s going to be a hard game, but it’ll be one we’ll relish, we love a challenge. We had 12 retirements two years ago, it was a massive blow to us, and I’m sure people on the outside were thinking, ‘Cork are finished’, that it would take us a few years to come back,” she says.
“That drove us on. We put in serious effort through the year in training, we nearly killed ourselves, we were nearly in tears at times. And we’ve done the same this year. If we perform the way we know we can I have no doubt that we will be All-Ireland champions on the day. But I’m sure Kilkenny have the same opinion of themselves – and rightly so, they’re a great team.”
And a victory would mean a 27th title, Thompson climbing those steps again, this time as captain of the county alone at the top of that roll of honour.
Things always get better.
