Prolific star epitomises Cork's hunger

IRISH TIMES/IRISH SPORTS COUNCIL SPORTSWOMEN AWARD FOR MAY:Valerie Mulcahy (Gaelic football)

UP UNTIL 2005 the honours in women’s Gaelic football were spread generously enough around the counties, with Kerry, Waterford, Monaghan and Mayo all winning senior All-Ireland titles in the 1990s and Laois and Galway adding their names to the roll in 2001 and 2004, respectively.

Since 2005, though, Cork have utterly dominated the women’s game, winning five All-Irelands in a row and five National League titles in six years – only Mayo interrupted the sequence in 2007.

After completing that five-in-a-row by beating Dublin in last year’s All-Ireland final, Cork’s rivals would have hoped that, having been so well fed on trophies, their hunger for yet more success might have abated.

Despite having a habit of taking their time to find their form in the early stages of the season, Cork’s three-point defeat to Dublin in Fermoy back in February would, then, have offered some encouragement to those with designs on the year’s major honours.

The champions grew stronger as the campaign progressed, making their way through to the final, but Galway, their opponents, were the only county to remain undefeated in the round-robin phase of the league, drawing with Cork in Buttevant in March.

Last month’s final in Parnell Park, then, was always going to be an interesting test of Cork’s ability and desire to maintain their supremacy, with a gifted young Galway side intent on winning their first ever National League title.

They were no match for Cork, though, in the opening stages, trailing by 1-4 to 0-2, but by half-time they were just a point behind and with 15 minutes to go they were a point up. So, were Cork a spent force?

As Galway corner back Caitríona Cormican put it after the game, “I thought we had them . . . but that’s why they’ve won the last five All-Irelands: they never give up.”

In that closing quarter of an hour Cork scored 1-5, precisely their tally in the game until then, the champions digging deep, and showing no little hunger, when facing the prospect of losing their title.

In the end four points separated the teams, with yet another outstanding contribution from Valerie Mulcahy proving decisive. The forward scored 1-6 of Cork’s 2-10, a sublime first-half goal, after playing a one-two with Nollaig Cleary, the highlight of her performance.

There were plenty of other key contributors to Cork’s victory in Parnell Park, one that earned them their third National League title in a row, not least substitute Rhona Buckley, who scored 1-1 in the closing stages, and Deirdre O’Reilly, who saved a certain goal with a marvellous block. Time and again though, Mulcahy’s scoring ability is what gives Cork the edge in closely-fought contests. Mulcahy, then, wins her second Sportswoman of the Month Award, her first coming in 2007.

When asked in June 2005 what was her biggest ambition in sport Mulcahy said “to win an All-Ireland with Cork, sooner rather than later”. She now has five winner’s medals and, it would seem, she’s as hungry for her sixth as she was for her first.

Monthly awards so far:

January:Aoife Hoey and Claire Bergin (Bobsleigh). After finishing in the top 10 at the World Junior Championships last season, the athletes made it their goal to become the first Irish competitors to qualify for the women's Olympic bobsleigh. They succeeded, making it to Vancouver.

February:Jessica Kurten (Equestrian). The Antrim rider has been in exceptional form again this year, two World Cup qualifying series victories giving her the perfect start to 2010.

March:Katie Walsh (Horse racing). Walsh assumed she'd be a mere spectator at Cheltenham this year, but two late opportunities came her way – and she won both races, the National Hunt Chase and the Vincent OBrien County Hurdle, her first ever winners at the festival.

April:Dora Gorman (Soccer). Gorman, who is also an under-18 hockey international and plays senior Gaelic football for Galway, captained the Irish under-17 team to a place in the last four of the European Championships, clinching qualification with a win over Sweden, the second-ranked nation in Europe.