by Daragh Ó Conchúir

The last time Vikki Falconer lined up to face Cork in the knockout stages of the Glen Dimplex All-Ireland senior camogie championship, she had the All-Star already in the bag and was one of the leading contenders to be player of the year.

What’s more, like teammate Niamh Rockett, she was a little over an hour away from what most believe would be a unique treble of winning senior, intermediate and premier junior All-Irelands.

Waterford’s specialist marker won the first battle with Cork captain Amy O’Connor but crumpled to the turf after just three minutes when attempting a change of direction. That was that.

O’Connor went on to score 3-7 from ten shots, 3-2 from play, and the Rebels were 2023 All-Ireland champions.

That afternoon left its mark obviously on Falconer, the ACL torn and a far from straightforward return ahead. The one-sided nature of the game left its mark on Waterford too.

They have looked better this summer and the return of the Tramore defender is surely a factor, along with the gradual healing of the detritus of scar tissue scattered everywhere in the wake of that chastening afternoon at Croke Park.

To that end, returning to HQ for this year’s quarter-final felt like a bit of a full circle moment and again, Falconer excelled as the Déise recovered from a sticky start to prevail against Clare by ten points. It took Rockett contributing 1-11 to deny the only other survivor from Waterford’s one-point defeat of Down in the 2011 All-Ireland premier junior championship the POTM gong.

Crossing swords with Cork in today’s Glen Dimplex All-Ireland senior semi-final at UPMC Nowlan Park (5pm, live on RTÉ2 as part of a double-header with the Galway v Tipperary semi-final at 3pm) is another step along the journey.

In Falconer’s eyes however, it is not so much about the opposition as much as knowing she is back in the big time, another All-Ireland final spot up for grabs. She is close to her optimum again and enjoying her camogie, having decided very quickly that her career could not end by being carted off a pitch.

She has always been an independent thinker, looking on herself in the round rather than just in the context of her sporting pursuits. And being here still, having turned 31 earlier this year, almost half a lifetime since first being called into the Waterford senior panel, is probably a testament to her awareness of striking a balance in her life, on not neglecting her mental health in the pursuit of physical peak.

Thus, she missed a couple of years’ camogie studying in Scotland after the All-Ireland intermediate success of 2015.

And then last October, after the frustration of a quad injury that halted her comeback, she went to Australia with her boyfriend, missing the Very League in the process.

No question, the primary school teacher at Our Lady of Mercy in Waterford city, is a complete package rather than a one-dimensional figure.

“I know I’m very lucky to be back,” says Falconer, on her first day of official holidays after the conclusion of a school camp.

“I know that’s not a lot of players can do that. I’m grateful towards management and the girls to be left back into the panel, but I suppose after the cruciate and everything, I felt like I just need a bit of a break. It was something I’ve always wanted to do.

“It gave me the opportunity to work on myself as well. It gave me that break from just the usual training, I was able to go to the gym and I trained with a club (Central Coast) over there as well. So it was really good, and I’m happy to be back. And as I said, I am grateful that was allowed back in the panel.”

We can be fairly confident that Mick Boland and his management team, and the players, did not require any papal conclave-type powwow to come up to come to a consensus in that regard.

After the game against Clare, Boland was effusive but it is what teammates say invariably reveals most.

“Vikki is a superstar, I can tell you,” said Orla Hickey. “I was on the pitch with her the last day in Croke Park. It’s brilliant to see someone of her calibre get back playing. She’s a superstar... She is a real inspiration.”

Falconer landed back in Ireland on a Friday. On Saturday, she was doing a ball session. There was unfinished business to attend to.

“To be honest, I tried not to think about it,” she says of the build-up to the Croke Park return. “There were a few comments during the week but for me, I was just excited. In the All-Ireland final, when I did my knee, I was a bit later on in my career as well so I did have those thoughts before: the last time I played in Croke Park, is that going to be the (last) game? And I didn’t want that to be the case.

“Coming off, I was really happy, but I didn’t really think about it during the week. But looking back, I’m just delighted that I was back up there. Every player, every GAA player, every camogie, ladies football player, you want to be playing in Corke Park.

“At my age, you always do wonder, when would be your last year? And 2023, bar in the finish, obviously, was a good year. And when the injury happened, well I’m a bit stubborn and I said I was not finishing like that.

“Even last year, when I did get back, I got injured again. There was a big mix of frustrations so I was eager to get back this year too.”

She doesn’t know if the “pretty bad tear” of the quad is related to the graft taken from that area to help repair the ACL. It isn’t something that interests her really, because it doesn’t matter now. But it was very hard to take, worse than the cruciate, because having played against Antrim in the group stages, she was primed to start against Galway in last year’s All-Ireland quarter-final.

“Mentally, I think when the cruciate happened, I said, ‘We’re gonna get through this with rehab.’ I actually found tearing my quad really hard mentally, because all that work you put in… I was very naive in the fact that, other things can happen too. Once my knee was back in order, I was like, ‘Here we go, we’re back,’ but I forgot about the rest of my body. So I found that hard to take. Mentally I found that really hard.

“But these things happen, you come back stronger.”

She agrees that Waterford started slowly against Clare and that it took her “three or four balls” to get to grips with how the dangerous Róisín Begley was playing. Experience was probably the key factor, she reckons, individually and collectively, predicting that there is more to come from a young Banner outfit.

All the Falconer trademarks were on show after that tricky opening period. The limpet-like marking. The sure first touch. That strength over the sliotar, which belies a short stature. The accurate, sensible distribution.

With so much of the conversation centred on making it back, there is a danger in framing this as a good way to go out, in top form again, playing in big games, giving the game’s best forwards a torrid time.

But that also makes it hard to leave, especially with Waterford boasting their deepest ever squad, now firmly ensconced in the top four of camogie, at least.

“It’s a huge part of your life, so I think you want to play for as long as you can.

“I played with amazing players over the years, like Jennie Simpson, Karen Kelly, Shona Curran, Trish Jackman. So many amazing players over the years. But I think what we’ve been working on over the last few years, it’s really starting to knit together. We’ve a really good mix of youth and experienced players as well. I think the game we have, we have some really quick players, fast players, and the game plan we’re working with is really coming together. It’s a really special team.

“It’s a really good atmosphere. And at the moment, everyone is just getting on really well, and it’s a nice place to be. And when you’re coming back into a group like this, it makes it a lot easier. I do feel there’s something special in the team.”

They will need to show it today against the champions. With Falconer in situ, expect them to do just that.

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