Mulcahy shoots the rebels to historic title treble

Mulcahy shoots the Rebels to historic title treble Article courtesy of The Irish Independent

CORK 1-11 GALWAY 0-8 All-Ireland SFC final

THEY said it couldn’t be done, but Cork’s women proved everyone
wrong, adding the TG4 Ladies senior football title yesterday to
their camogie victory in a sensational ‘Rebel Treble’ climax to
the season. Not content to be the European City of Culture and
winning the hurling, ‘de real capital’ can now claim to be the
nation’s premier Gaelic stronghold for both men and women. Any
hopes of their legendary ‘superiority complex’ receding can be
forgotten.

When asked if they might be prepared to let anyone else have a
look-in over the next year or two, Player of the Match Valerie
Mulcahy quipped “I certainly hope not!” With three starters among
the five dual stars who had upset the odds in the camogie a fortnight
ago, Cork upset the form-book in this confident defeat of reigning
champions Galway.

The Tribeswomen, whose hurlers also lost their final to Cork,
wept openly as Rebel fans in the 23,358 crowd (up 3,000 on last
year) invaded the pitch for the third Sunday out of four. Bubbly
22-year-old corner-forward Mulcahy repeatedly left Galway defenders
trailing in her wake as she racked up 1-5, including two points
within the first 60-seconds and the 50th-minute penalty that sealed
their historic first title. At half-time Cork had scored only
0-3; all from Mulcahy, two from play. But they took heart that
they had kicked four wides and Galway had managed only one more
score, three (from play) of their 0-4 coming from forward ace
Niamh Fahey, who spent most of last week playing U19 international
soccer in Estonia.

The excellent Cork full-back line, especially her early marker,
dual star Angela Walsh, looked rock solid and Walsh’s younger
sister Ciara, who kept Fahey scoreless when she went to centre-forward
in the second half, was equally vital in keeping Galway to such
an unusually low scoreline.

The Connacht side contributed somewhat to their own downfall by
pulling Rebecca McPhilbin back to midfield to mark Juliette Murphy.
But transferring their superior possession into their two-woman
full-forward line proved a problem, especially as McPhilbin’s
absence let Bríd Stack operate brilliantly as an unmarked ‘sweeper’.

Cork ‘keeper Elaine Harte, herself an ex-soccer international,
saved a Fahey goal chance early in the second half just before
Mulcahy blasted one across the goalmouth. The introduction of
dual star Mary O’Connor and super-sub Deirdre O’Reilly, a clubmate
of Mulcahy’s, was vital as Cork got on top. O’Reilly scored a
super point to swing the game’s momentum as they kept Galway scoreless
for 19 minutes while pulling four points clear. She also won the
penalty that Mulcahy scored nonchalantly to give them a five-point
lead with ten minutes left.

Galway brought in cruciate-injury victim Coohill but Cork dual
wing-back Briege Corkery got up again, as in the camogie final,
to chip in a score as they pulled away to a deserved first victory
and a very special place in Gaelic’s history books.

Player of the Match – Valerie Mulcahy (Cork).
SCORERS –
Cork: V Mulcahy 1-5 (3f, 1 pen), N Cleary 0-3, D O’Reilly
0-2, B Corkery 0-1.
Galway: N Fahy 0-3, P Ni Fhlatharta 0-2, N Duggan 0-2,
P Gleeson 0-1.
CORK – E Harte; B Stack, A Walsh, R Buckley; B Corkery,
C Walsh, S O’Reilly; J Murphy (Capt), N Kelly; A Murphy, R Curtin,
N Cleary; V Mulcahy, C Creedon, G O’Flynn. Subs: M O’Connor for
O’Flynn (27 mins), D O’Reilly for Creedon (40), A O’Connor for
Curtin (55), N Keohane for Murphy (62).
GALWAY – U Carroll; M Glynn, R Stephens, AM McDonough;
M O’Connell, A Daly (Capt), E Flaherty; A Clarke, E Concannon;
G Conneely, N Duggan, P Ni Fhlatharta; R McPhilbin, N Fahey, L
Joyce. Subs: P Gleeson for Joyce (41 mins), C Molloy for McDonough
(44), L Coohill for McPhilbin (52).
REF – T Clarke (Dublin)
Attendance – 23,358

This
article was kindly provided by The Irish Independent