HANNAH LOONEY believes Cork’s dual trio are being looked upon as ‘a nuisance’ as they prepare to tackle another fixtures clash.
Looney, Aoife Healy and Libby Coppinger are members of the Rebels’ camogie and football panels — both of whom are in Championship action on Saturday afternoon.
The camogie side will be expected to take a step closer to a third All-Ireland in a row by seeing off Clare at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
A must-win fixture awaits the footballers, who make the 250km journey to Castlebar to take on Mayo.
An All-Ireland winner in both codes, Looney is no stranger to such dilemmas.
And she hopes they become a thing of the past when the integration of the GAA, LGFA and Camogie Association — which has been optimistically targeted for 2027 — is complete.
The 28-year-old said: “I’m grateful to be from Cork and to be a part of two set-ups that encourage us to play, because they appreciate our value and want us involved in both.
“But you’d hope maybe when integration comes along and you have one fixtures committee that this can be resolved.
“I used to have a bit of sympathy for the associations because of the split-season and there’s a lot of games to get through.
“But it’s total disrespect and you just don’t feel valued at all.”
With Looney acknowledging that the meeting with Mayo is ‘do or die’, she and Healy will lend their efforts to the football cause this weekend. Coppinger is set to be on camogie duty.
Looney said: “When I first started playing dual almost ten years ago now, it kind of felt like in general from society and from the organisations that we were a lot more valued and a lot more respected.
“Whereas now it feels like it’s more a nuisance to everyone, which is really disappointing when we’re still trying so hard to keep it alive down in Cork.
“There are three weekends for the LGFA fixtures. This clash was so avoidable. But here we are again.
“What more can we do to just totally eradicate the dual player? It’s frustrating for us as players.”
HANNAH LOONEY was speaking as SuperValu launched a limited edition Pride-themed tote bag, priced at €3, with all profits going to ‘Belong To’, the national LGBTQ+ youth organisation.
