Katie McCarthy holds the record for the most appearances with Cork City Women’s FC, having played since the club’s foundation, in 2011, bar an 18-month spell between DLR Waves and Wexford Youths. Tomorrow will be her 72nd appearance and her first in the FAI Women’s Cup final.

Stephanie Roche has insisted her wonder strike, which will be celebrated at Monday’s FIFA Ballon d’Or gala, was not a fluke.

BRITISH cyclist Russell Downing won the Tour of Ireland race yesterday amid torrential downpour at St Patrick’s Hill in Cork but spectators near the finish line searched in vain for the icon of the sport Lance Armstrong who dropped out in the final stages.