Cork ladies had to do their own fundraising, says Briege Corkery

Briege Corkery has revealed how the Cork footballers had to fundraise to pay for team holidays during their spell of unprecedented success.

Her comments come after Dublin duo Niamh McEvoy and Fiona Hudson highlighted the fact the new All-Ireland champions must find the funds for a trip to celebrate their final win over Mayo last month.

Dual star Corkery admitted Cork “always had to fundraise for our holidays as well”.

She told rte.ie: “What the Dublin players said wasn’t a big surprise to me. It is hard on Dublin to be fundraising but I’m sure there are plenty of businesses out there and I’m sure they’ll get plenty of support.”

McEvoy and Hudson appeared on The Ray D’Arcy Show on Saturday night with Hudson revealing: ‘We’re hoping to go away — we’re starting with a bit of fundraising now. I suppose it doesn’t come with the package like it does with the guys.”

Her comments sparked a huge reaction on social media as the Dublin men’s team received a team holiday for winning the Sam Maguire, largely due to a grant from Croke Park to the two All-Ireland finalists.

Corkery praised the All-Ireland winning duo for raising the issue saying: “It’s great that they got it out there. The Ray D’Arcy Show was probably one of the best shows to get it out there on. Most people are watching it and I suppose it’s just something people weren’t aware of. People are more aware of it now and that’s probably what the difference is.

“I’ve met people through work who said: ‘I can’t believe the Dublin Ladies team have to fundraise.’

“And I just say: ‘Look, we were the same.’ We never saw it as an issue. We were delighted as a team to win an All-Ireland medal and going on a team holiday was a bonus.”

Corkery explained that the Cork team often ran golf classics and approached various businesses but on several occasions weren’t able to go anywhere.

“It was hard because we have such a big county to try and drive everyone on. It was something that we just did. In a good way we were at a disadvantage, in the fact that we had won so many years in-a-row, and we were constantly going back to the same businesses year after year. I suppose that was that little bit harder and towards the end you would be like: ‘Oh God, I can’t go out again.’

“We couldn’t do it every year because we couldn’t be going back to the businesses every year. But then as a team, we felt it was important to enjoy the wins. There was only one year where we really splashed out. In 2014, we went to Miami and we went on a three-day cruise. I think that came up to about €30,000.”