Football ladies complete Rebel treble

Cork 1-11 Galway 0-8

A 50th-minute goal from Valerie Mulcahy, scored from a penalty, was the high point of a scoring spree by the Rebel ladies on the way to their first Brendan Martin Cup.

A young team involving four players and one substitute from Cork’s championship-winning camogie team took on the more experienced Galway team, last year’s champions.

Mulcahy had almost scored a goal from play 11 minutes earlier, when a shot she somehow managed to curl around four Galway players just went wide.

Galway went in at the break up 0-4 to 0-3, with star-forward 17-year-old Niamh Fahey, just back from international soccer duty in Estonia, putting in a couple of good points from play.

At the restart, the excellent Nollaig Cleary hit the upright and, three minutes later, scored a point. This seemed to wake Galway up, with Cork keeper Elaine Harte having to make a save from Fahey on 38 minutes.

After that, however, it was all Cork. Point after point from players such as Cleary and Woman of the Match Mulcahy, and a score from right-back Briege Corkery which could as easily have been a goal, meant that the Tribeswomen spent the second half playing catch-up.

Today’s victory means that a third senior All-Ireland title heads Leeside this year, with Cork already having won the hurling and camogie championships.