SPORTING TEACHERS/VALERIE MULCAHY:SHE IS the female equivalent of a Peter Canavan or Alan Brogan, that most valuable of commodities, a scorer of those all-important three-pointers - a corner-forward with an eye for goal.
It all ended in fantastic fashion at the end of September, when Mulcahy notched a hat-trick as Cork claimed their fourth successive All-Ireland title in a 4-13 to 0-11 victory over Monaghan in front of 20,000 supporters at Croke Park.
It was her seventh goal of the championship, earning her the golden boot award ahead of Mayo's Cora Staunton as she finished the campaign with a personal haul of 7-16 as the Rebelettes claimed yet another crown.
All those goals, yet Mulcahy believes she is more adept at knocking over the points from further out.
"It seems to be my forte at the moment but I used to play further out the field. I actually think I'm better at taking points. But as a corner-forward if you see an opportunity for a goal you might as well take it," admits Mulcahy.
The genesis of Cork's recent success at women's football goes back a long way according to Mulcahy, who was a bit of an all-rounder when she was younger.
"In secondary school there wasn't any football team where I was, but the club had formed and I was playing basketball and hockey with the school.
"In college at the University of Limerick it was football and soccer mainly, but when Eamon Ryan came on board as trainer in Cork I had to prioritise," says Mulcahy.
Despite focusing on football, Mulcahy still plays camogie with her club Rockbán, Cork's only dual club, while also still shooting some hoops. "I still play a bit of basketball over the winter to keep going but I played a bit of everything really. I think it's best to leave specialising until later, some sports like camogie are specialised anyway in their skills.
"I think you should try and play as many sports as you can for as long as you can, because they do all contribute to each other. Later on it can become hard with time constraints though," says the three-time All Star.
The Rebelettes' record over the past four years is incredible, picking up 11 of the 12 titles on offer across both league and championship and losing just one match during that time.
So what's the secret of their success?
"A lot of us would have been playing from under-14 up in Cork football and would also have been pals growing up and stuck together," reveals Mulcahy, before she goes on to point out how it all culminated in the four-in-a-row.
"We came together as a whole team a year or so before that. We got to the league final and lost to Mayo after being up by six points. We lost the All-Ireland quarter-final to Mayo as well but then the year after we beat them in the semi-finals and it all went from there."
Mulcahy has seen the benefits of Cork's success in her county and the overall growth in the game, aided by a huge increase in television coverage.
"It helps alert people that women's football is out there, there's a lot of new clubs being formed, especially here in Cork. We'd be familiar faces to a lot of the girls from going around presenting medals.
"Since I came here to Gael Cholaiste Mhuire we've got the football up and running, even though camogie would be more popular on the northside of Cork."
The bad news for the rest of the country is that Mulcahy and her team-mates' hunger for success didn't stop with equaling Kerry's four-in-a-row mark this year.
"We want to make if five," states Mulcahy. "I think our consistency is the key thing, we've been playing together for a few years now and it's easier for us to keep going because we've seen the success."
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