Walsh says hard work lay foundation for victory

CORK’S all-conquering ladies footballers will be more intent on celebrating their latest success in the TG4 All-Ireland senior championship over the next few weeks than thinking about next year and the motivation to make it five-in-a-row.

However, while jubilant captain Angela Walsh has no doubt that they will take on the challenge, she pointed out yesterday that a lot could depend on all of the players being able to give a continuing commitment to the team.

“Hopefully Eamonn Ryan will continue, but there’s nothing set in stone yet. We’re going to meet in six weeks or two months time and we’ll see then what the story is like then. Right now we’re not thinking of five-in-a-row, but we’ll certainly enjoy this win.”

One thing the Dungarvan-based PE and maths teacher is fairly sure of is what is required to be as successful as they have been, ascribing it to a combination of their dedication to a rigorous training regime, their ‘attitude’ to playing and, of course, the talent in the side.

“We just put in the hard work. That’s the bottom line. Every one of us attends training and we do all the drills — for a purpose obviously. You need to have that kind of mentality. I think that’s why we have been so successful. We have the right attitude.’’

She agreed that there was a feeling of uncertainty at half-time after how strongly Monaghan had pushed them, commenting: “The first half was extremely tough. They were really physical and not giving us any time on the ball at all. Thankfully it opened up all right in the second half, but up to then it was a very close contest and could have gone either way.’’

Her reaction at the finish was one of ecstasy on hearing the hooter. “It was such an unbelievable feeling — three minutes of complete happiness.”

At the same time she was very conscious of the honour ahead of her in going up to receive the Brendan Martin Cup from association president, Geraldine Giles. “It’s the dream of every player to captain an All-Ireland winning team but, only very few get to realise their dream,’’ she commented.

Angela praised the three dual players — Briege Corkery, Mary O’Connor and Rena Buckley – agreeing that it was “an amazing achievement”, adding: “I’m definitely happy with my decision (to concentrate on the football), but I don’t know what’s going to happen next year. We’ll see.’’