IRISH TIMES/IRISH SPORTS COUNCIL SPORTSWOMEN AWARD FOR SEPTEMBER: Briege Corkery (Camogie) and Angela Walsh (Gaelic Football): Mary Hannigantalks to a duo who helped ensure Cork delivered on the All-Ireland stage as the county completed a camogie/football double.
PRECISELY A year ago we had no choice but to make a joint award for September after outstanding displays by Wexford camogie captain Mary Leacy and Cork Gaelic footballer Valerie Mulcahy in their respective All-Ireland finals. Twelve months on and we found ourselves in the same boat, unable to choose between two exceptional performances by Cork players in the camogie and football finals. A joint award, then, it is again.
For our camogie winner we tried hard to discriminate against Briege Corkery, keen to add a new name to our roll of honour. But anyone who saw the 21-year-old's display against Galway in the final will understand why she wins her third monthly award in four years - only Jessica Kurten (five), Madeline Perry and Nina Carberry (four each) have won more since the awards began in 2004.
"Each blade of grass in Croke Park knows her by name, and I think she covered them twice today," said Cork manager Denise Cronin of Corkery after the 2-10 to 1-8 victory.
There's rarely a consensus when it comes to choosing a player of the match, and, indeed, there was and remains one dissenting voice over the decision to award it to Corkery. Was it her best ever performance?
"Erra," she said yesterday, "I didn't even think I played that well." Our 2005 Sportswoman of the Year was keener to hand the credit for Cork regaining the title they lost to Wexford last year to trainer Jim McCarthy, "he had total faith in us, we wouldn't have won it only for him".
"No one gave us a chance at the start of the year because, they said, we'd lost too many players, and, to be honest, I probably didn't give us much of a chance either. But he just made us believe in ourselves, and once you do that you always have a chance."
The victory gave Corkery her third senior All-Ireland camogie medal, but a fortnight later she went one better on the football front when she was a member of the team that made it four-in-a-row for Cork, beating Monaghan 4-13 to 0-11. The two-week break between the finals was a luxury - the camogie and football semi-finals were played within 24 hours of each other.
Valerie Mulcahy, with a tally of 3-2, was superb once again, but for her commanding display at full-back and her captaincy of "the team of the decade", as Cork have been crowned, we opted for Angela Walsh, not just for her individual performance but as a representative of the whole team.
"We haven't really had the chance to sit back and reflect on the final, we're all back at work or college, some of us still playing for or clubs, but in time we'll get to think about it and enjoy the memory," said Walsh, a PE and Maths teacher at St Augustine's College in Dungarvan.
"In fairness, the score didn't really reflect the game, we just got the goals at the right time and they, of course, made all the difference. But it was a tough, physical battle. Monaghan are a good team, so it was hard work."
"They never cease to amaze me," said trainer Eamon Ryan of his players after the final, but, echoing Corkery's tribute to McCarthy, Walsh puts much of Cork's domination of women's football the past four years down to the work of Ryan.
"Before 2005 we put in all the training, had some underage success, but just couldn't make the breakthrough at senior level - Eamon got the best out of us and we've had fantastic success the last four years.
"We're just a real close group of friends, we love going to training because of the craic we have, and I think all of that has helped us achieve what we have."
To their medals, then, Corkery and Walsh can add the award of The Irish Times/Irish Sports Council Sportswomen of the Month for September.
Monthly Awards So Far
January- Kelly Proper (Athletics): The Waterford teenager, the 2007 Junior Athlete of the Year, broke the Irish indoor record for the long jump over three successive meetings in Nenagh, Belfast and Cardiff.
February- Chloe Magee (Badminton): The 20-year-old from Donegal began the year with a hat-trick of titles at the National Championships and went on to qualify for the singles in Beijing.
March- Nina Carberry (Horse racing): The jockey had another memorable visit to Cheltenham, winning the Cross Country Chase for the second successive year, also picking up a couple of wins at Fairyhouse later in the month.
April- Siobhan Byrne (Fencing): The German-born 23-year-old, whose father is from Meath, became the first female Irish fencer to compete in the Olympics in almost 50 years after qualifying for Beijing by reaching the final of the European qualifying tournament in Istanbul.
May- Leona and Lisa Maguire (Golf): The 13-year-old twins from Co Cavan made it an all-Maguire affair in the final of the Irish Close at Westport, Leona becoming the youngest ever winner of the tournament, Lisa going in to the Close as the leading qualifier by winning the Leitrim Cup.
June- Emma Davis (Triathlon): Became the first Irish athlete to qualify for the Olympic triathlon when she finished 15th in a field of 79 at the World Championships in Vancouver.
July- Sinead Jennings (Rowing): The Donegal woman won silver at the World Championships in Austria, missing out on gold by just .55 seconds.
August- Olive Loughnane (Athletics): Knocked 93 seconds off her personal best to finish seventh in the 20km walk at the Olympic Games, Ireland's best result in track and field.
• Each sportswoman is eligible for just one monthly award in 2008 but her achievements through the year will be taken into account by the judges when the decision on the overall winner is made.
