Valerie Mulcahy: Knowledge is power when it comes to a winning mentality

I’ve been fortunate to play on a team where winning was second nature. That wasn’t always the case — it took some time for it to become like that — but winning became standard. It became the expectation of ourselves.

All-Ireland wins became our barometer for success. We set many records together, one being 36 consecutive competitive games undefeated. Not an easy task, but one achieved by a group hungry for success and even hungrier to avoid disappointment.

We won every All-Ireland final that we competed in, including five in a row twice. The current team added one more to that tally this year, making it their first six in a row. This dominance of ladies football, over a period of 11 years, was unimaginable, considering success had eluded Cork until 2005, when we won our first championship.