O’Connor: We’re no one-hit wonders

DUBLIN captain Cliodhna O’Connor believes the Sky Blues didn’t get enough credit for winning last year’s TG4 All-Ireland Ladies senior football championship crown – because they didn’t beat Cork along the way.

But they get the chance to rectify the situation on Saturday when the last two All-Ireland senior champions clash in the quarter-final at St Brendan’s Park, Birr (4pm). Munster champions Cork are fuelled by a burning desire to reclaim the Brendan Martin Cup that they won for five successive seasons from 2005-’09.

“We didn’t meet them last year but 2009 was heartbreaking. I think there are a lot of people that wanted to take a bit away from our victory last year, with the fact that we didn’t play Cork,” she said.

“From the start of the year, we didn’t want to be known as a flash in the pan or a one-hit wonder. We’re not afraid of Cork but we know that it’s going to be a serious challenge.”

The biggest concern for Munster champions Cork is that six weeks have passed since their last championship outing, a 2-15 to 0-11 provincial final victory over Kerry. Dublin have regrouped since their shock Leinster semi-final defeat to Meath and have recorded two good qualifier victories.

“We were in the same situation last year. We don’t know how they [Cork] have been training but if it’s good quality, there can be no problem not playing matches,” she said.

“It depends on what happens in between but we wouldn’t rely on that (lack of games) to give us the edge.”

The first of a TG4 All-Ireland Ladies SFC quarter-final double-header at St Brendan’s Park features Ulster champions Monaghan and beaten Leinster finalists Meath (2pm). Monaghan haven’t played a championship game since July 10, when they retained their Ulster crown with victory over Tyrone, while Meath hammered Sligo 3-26 to 0-5 in the qualifiers last Saturday week.