A victory built on culture of winning

We thought they were gone.

We really did. We thought we were witnessing the ending of a dynasty, the crumbling of an empire.

Surely Dublin couldn’t let this one slip again. They had been nine points clear of Cork in Birr last year in the All-Ireland quarter-final but Cork hit 1-10 without reply to sneak over the line.

But surely it couldn’t happen again, could it? Surely not with Gregory McGonigle in charge, a man with a keen eye for a defensive strategy when the need is at its greatest.

But it was Dublin who crumbled under another incessant Cork onslaught. It was Dublin again who threw away a winning lead against the Rebels, like they did in those 2011 and 2013 encounters and like they did in this year’s National League Division 1 final.

Sometimes, there’s just nothing that you can do to stem the red tide. They’re relentless, remorseless and they don’t do sentiment.

It doesn’t matter to them that Dublin are left to sift through yet more psychological wreckage.

It doesn’t matter that the mental wounds will leave deep scars.

Because all that matters to Eamonn Ryan and Cork is one thing. Winning.

Since winning that first championship senior title in 2005, they’ve lost just once in the All-Ireland series, against Tyrone in 2010.

A few months after that defeat, they met at a Cork city centre venue and vowed, as a collective, that it would never happen again.

Almost four years later, it still happened. Kerry took Cork’s Munster title last year but when the sides met in the All-Ireland semi-final, Cork exacted revenge.

And when Cork regained the provincial crown this summer, they put six goals past the Kingdom, just to put them back in their box.

That’s how Cork operate. It’s a ruthless efficiency reminiscent of other great sporting dynasties. Like Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United, like Brian Cody’s Kilkenny.

Ryan and his team may not generate the headlines of United and Kilkenny but there are huge similarities.

Like Ferguson and Cody, Ryan is presiding over an unrivalled period of dominance. Sure, Kerry dominated the 80s and won nine successive senior crowns from 1982-1990 but they were different times.

Ladies football was still effectively in its infancy as a sport before the emergence of Mayo, Waterford and Monaghan challenged the previously established order.

And then along came Ryan and Cork to take the ladies game to new heights. Some will argue that Cork’s dominance is bad for the sport, but that’s unfair.

It’s up to other would-be contenders to step up to the plate and take them on. Monaghan, Kerry, Dublin, Armagh, Mayo and Galway have all been put to the sword by Cork in All-Ireland finals since 2005.

Monaghan have suffered three times and Dublin twice. Kerry, Mayo, Armagh and Galway have also suffered against Ryan and Cork on the game’s biggest day.

It’s difficult to put a finger on what makes this Cork team so successful. Talent alone isn’t enough to explain it because Dublin have shown in recent times that they have the skills to match up to their big city rivals.

Maybe it’s fear that drives Cork. Fear that losing could see that dynasty fall, that empire crumble. The factors are multi-faceted but Ryan is the man who makes it tick.

He allows the dual players to do their thing, as Rena Buckley, Angela Walsh and Briege Corkery completed the double yesterday. He keeps things varied, interesting and challenging at training. As Roisín Phelan, outstanding in her first full season on the team, explained earlier this week, there’s an inspiring story at every training session.

He won’t allow standards to drop or slacken and the players that were there in 2010 will never forget the pain of losing to Tyrone, when Aisling Barrett and Bríd Stack were sin-binned in Banagher and Cork capitulated.

Not even the retirements of Juliet Murphy, arguably the finest player in the history of Ladies football, and goalkeeper Elaine Harte after last year’s All-Ireland final success could derail Cork.

Ryan coaxed Nollaig Cleary back for one more year but not even a 1-3 haul after coming on as a sub against Armagh could get her back in the starting line-up for yesterday’s final. Because in Ryan’s eyes, each and every member of his panel start the year as equals. And that’s how it will be again next year, if he goes again. Same as always. Same as it ever was. And as it shall be again, perhaps.