Cork Camogie Captain Anna Geary steps into a spotlight of a different intensity this week when representing her county in the Rose of Tralee Festival.
The show is broadcast live from the Dome on Tralee and while it is roundly dismissed by many as a throwback to a different era, it will still strangely attract a huge TV audience and mass coverage across all forms of media.
Geary’s presence on stage will lift the profile of Camogie at a key time of the year ahead of next weekend’s Senior Semi Final’s. She herself will lead out the Cork team as Captain as they face reigning All Ireland Champions Galway on Saturday.
International
The international reach of the contest is signified by the fact that only nine of the 32 finalists are representing Irish counties, the rest coming from the US, Australia, Britain and the Middle East.
Geary is rated as favourite by Paddy Power bookmakers, with her Galway rival close behind along with entrants from Carlow, Philadelphia, Queensland and Abu Dhabi.
The contest does have a ‘lovely girl’ image but that has not stopped it continuing as a defining moment at the end of the Irish summer.
Character
Camogie has been determined to highlight the individual character of the sport all summer, especially through the excellent ‘Our Game Your Game’ video used to launch this year’s Championship.
Geary has been a consistent high profile performer on and off the pitch. She starred in an RTE documentary about the effort that goes into being an Inter County star last year, and has been active in promoting Liberty Insurance’s sponsorship of the Camogie All Ireland Championship.
