Rebelettes on track to retain crown

PREDICTABLY, the plaudits which holders Cork earned from another top-class display in the TG4 All-Ireland Ladies SFC were lost in the after-shock surrounding Valerie Mulcahy’s sending-off and the speculation on how much more difficult it would be to beat Monaghan in her absence.

She had brought her total to date in the campaign to 4-14 before dramatically exiting the field shortly before the hooter signalled the end of yet another game in which the champions’ goal-scoring expertise proved crucial.

Mulcahy contributed one of them, 10 seconds before the end of the first half and it was a score which the Tyrone manager Michella O’Neill conceded had a significant bearing on the outcome, feeling that it ‘lifted’ the champions.