Kilkenny camogie ace Katie Power reveals: ‘It’s tough asking your partner or your mam or dad for a few bob’

“You are 100 per cent out of pocket at the end of your month,” Power asserts. “Genuinely, there are some girls who have to borrow money for diesel at the end of each month.

“It’s tough going, to ask your partner or your mam or your dad for a few bob to put in the car because you have to go training. I know for a fact that there are people on our team who have had to do that. That alone would be huge.”

A GPA report published last year highlighted that only 9pc of female inter-county players are in receipt of mileage expenses. Of that 9pc, 6pc received less than 20 cent per mile, with 3pc getting between 20 and 40 cent.

Under the new charter, inter-county camogie players are to be paid 50 cent a mile as part of the Camogie Association player charter unveiled on Friday. “That alone would be massive,” says Power.

Recently, the Camogie Association pledged €2.5m across the next three years, with payments capped at €45,866.

Katie Power is 32 now. By her estimation, there is a “huge, huge difference” in how camogie players and women’s footballers are treated at inter-county level between now and just five years ago.

But the wheel can’t turn quickly enough. Integration. The long-promised charter. Expenses.

The Kilkenny camogie team are in the majority of female inter-county set-ups in that, to date, they haven’t received any mileage allowance which, prior to the charter, was at the discretion of county boards.

“You could be putting €80 or €100 a week into the car. Even if it covered half of that, at the end of the month it wouldn’t be so bad.”

You couldn’t say Power hasn’t earned such rudimentary welfare.

In the course of action, Power has broken both of her kneecaps. In one sits a screw and two bits of a second, broken screw. That shrapnel has imbedded in the and the initial plan to remove the debris is effectively impossible now without risking another fracture.

“It sounds worse than it is,” she insists. “When I say it like that, it does sound bad. But it’s manageable. Look, there are bad evenings and bad mornings when you’re in bits with it. But it’s just a case of trying to manage it as best you can.”

Power had three operations in 2020, one for the knee and two other hand-related surgeries. The upshot is a little creaking and groaning at this time of year.

“When the ground changes, I find that’s when I struggle the most,” Power admits. “This time of year, you could be training on astro turf one day and then you go back to a soft field for a game at the weekend.

“I find when we come into the summer, when the ground goes from soft to hard, it takes a little bit of time to adjust. It’s just a case of getting on with it. There’s no point in feeling sorry for yourself. I either want to play or I don’t. That’s the way I try and look at it.”

Power remains while the scenery around her changes. Denise Gaule departed for Australia last wtiner. Claire Phelan has retired. There is no Grace Walsh yet, although the hope is she can still play a part in Kilkenny’s season.

“This was the first winter where you were thinking…Denise is gone to Australia and you might say there was a half of thought ‘will I go with her?”, Power admits.

“When I added it all up, I do want to play for as long as I’m able. Because when it’s over, there’s no going back. So once I got the little bit of a break, I just needed to freshen up. The last few years have been hard on the body and hard on the mind as well.

“Once I got the bit of a break, the body feels good. Yeah look the older you get and the more years you play, the more those thoughts will seep in. It’s just a case of asking yourself what you want. And I’m delighted I made the decision I did. Hopefully the year will be good to me.”