Ryan admits to final fears

TWELVE trophies! That’s what the Cork ladies footballers have amassed in five seasons under the coaching and inspiration of Eamonn Ryan.

And while their All-Ireland four-in-a-row was achieved on the back of five provincial titles and success in three League finals, the former Cork star and team manager accepted after yesterday’s second half rout of Monaghan that he feared at one stage that they might not even make it back to the final.

“We got an awful lot of luck against Galway in the quarter-final,” he commented. “That’s where I was worried today (in case they had used it all up).

“Between Elaine (Harte) making some unbelievable saves, Galway hitting the post and they having eight wides, they could have been so far ahead at half-time that we could have been gone.

“It was bit like today, a bad first half and a good second half,” he added, delighting in the way the team showed after half time what they were capable of. Pointing out that Monaghan had played exactly as he had anticipated — the Watergrasshill native made it clear he wasn’t happy with the way his team performed up to half time.

“We probably played into their hands. We didn’t off-load the ball quickly enough and they ‘clustered us.’ We were a bit disappointed to have conceded eight points.

“We had set a target of maybe five. There was no blocking or intercepting going and our play wasn’t flowing the way we normally play.

“I thought we got a fortuitous first goal and admittedly we missed a few chances around the same time. The penalty I couldn’t see – and that’s not a cop-out – and I didn’t see the second goal either.”

Pointing out that they had never talked about the ‘four-in-a-row’ (except in answer to questions from the media), Ryan said that the hardest part of their preparations was often “getting the girls out on the training field”.

On the other hand, he said it “never ceased to amaze him” that the girls accepted “everything they threw at them” in training.

Meanwhile, after the furore over her dismissal against Tyrone and the personal hurt she suffered Valerie Mulcahy was relieved that everything had gone well for both herself and the team.

“I really looked forward to the game. After all the stuff over the last few weeks I was really anxious to perform and help us win.

“Things were quite calm at half-time. We were only three points up and not playing great. We knew what was ahead of us. We were all mature enough to raise our standards and we did thankfully.

“Winning our fourth title is a huge achievement, brilliant. We work so hard each year to raise the bar. It’s a super squad,” she added.

And on that controversial goal after half-time, when she ran in to meet a cross from the left wing, she suggested that she had been practicing all week.

“I planned it well. My timing was sublime,” she joked.