Stack: This was the hardest one

Bríd Stack has admitted that more questions were asked of champions Cork this season than in any of their previous seven All-Ireland victories.

Cork captured an eighth TG4 senior crown at Croke Park last Sunday to complete a remarkable turnaround for the Leesiders. In the Munster championship, Cork were beaten twice by Kerry as the Kingdom dashed dreams of a tenth successive Munster title.

But Cork picked themselves up and regrouped through the back door to win the Brendan Martin Cup yet again.

An indication of the interest in this year’s championship was reflected in TG4’s record viewership figures for Sunday’s finals, with 625,000 people tuning into their coverage on the afternoon while 328,000 watched the exciting climax to the senior final.

Stack, an eight-time All-Ireland medallist and holder of five All Stars, conceded the Rebels had to dig deeper than ever this year.

“Without question, this is definitely the hardest one,” she said.

“To come down to one free at the end to decide it – nobody wants it to end that way but definitely, it was the hardest one yet. Eamonn [Ryan] has asked us numerous times over the last few years, and no more so than Sunday, to go to the well and dig that little bit deeper.

“There were a lot of questions asked of us during this championship and hopefully we’ve answered those.”

Valerie Mulcahy’s late free decided the destination of the silverware but Cork were left hanging on as Cathriona McConnell’s last-gasp free to level the game drifted wide.

Monaghan gained possession as Cork tried to play keep-ball in the closing moments and Stack smiled: “That wasn’t in the plan at all. There was a lot of energy used during the game. To try and hold onto the ball against a team like Monaghan is a very hard thing to do. We turned over possession but thankfully we didn’t concede a score, which is the main thing.”