Noel O’Connor is the Bord Gáis Energy / Irish Daily Star Ladies Football Manager of the League 2011

At a ceremony in Croke Park during the week Cork’s Noel O’Connor was announced as the Bord Gáis Energy / Irish Daily Star Manager of the League 2011 after leading Cork to the Bord Gáis Energy NFL Division 1 title for the fourth year running.

Many people questioned how Cork would bounce back from defeats to Tyrone in last year’s Championship and indeed to Monaghan in the early rounds of this year’s League – but the Leesiders, under O’Connor’s stewardship, answered any questions emphatically as they claimed another Division 1 title.

While the four in a row may have made the headlines, their victories were all the more remarkable for the manner in which they were won. Goals in particular were not in short supply and they even managed to score four in the Final against a very determined Laois outfit.

At the awards ceremony in Croke Park, a delighted Noel was quick to thank those around him, “I am delighted to accept this but I do so on behalf of a wonderful backroom team.

“This is for Eamon Ryan, Justin McCarthy and Frankie Honohan as much as for me. Eamon has been coaching the team eight years and I suppose my role is just to facilitate and bring together all the good work that we all do behind the scenes. Credit must also go to the players, without their attitude and their efforts, none of this would be possible and I thank them all.”

Ger Cunningham, Sports Sponsorship Manager, Bord Gáis Energy, said, “Noel and his team continue to do an outstanding job at the helm of the Cork ladies football team and Bord Gáis Energy is delighted to be able to recognise their successes in this way. They have thrown down the gauntlet this year again in the League and no doubt will be ones to watch once more in the Championship.”