Cork Footballers Five-in-a-Row

28th Sep 2009

Footballers Five In A Row
Cork 1-09 Dubs 0-11

Captain Mary smiles as the other counties look on.

Cork footballer Mary O'Connor bounded up the steps of Croke Park on Sunday like it was Christmas morning. She couldn't wait to grab her bounty and lift it high above her head having beaten the Dubs - far surpassing the joy of any visit from a bearded man in red and white. Beating the Dubs in Croker.

As the great Cork captain said herself five-in-a-row doesn't happen too often and she was more than entitled to spend as long as she liked thanking people in her speech.

TG4 suddenly ceased coverage of Mary's glorious tones when she mentioned that Kilkenny's hurlers were still one behind them - one suspects a Leinster hand at the TG4 controls couldn't take any more.

Like no other Cork team before them the ladies have dominated their competition for five years. Kerry might have sneaked a four pointer the Sunday previous but it's the only grade they are competent in.

The Kingdom won the very first ladies final in 1990 but haven't won it since. Cork first won in 2004 and haven't relinquished their crown thus far. That's some record and if things keep going like this our ladies will surpass the Kerrymen's tally of All-Irelands in no time.

Ciara O'Sullivan aka The Dub Stopper

As one of the few counties that provide high standards in all sports and in particular the GAA grades, Cork can finish out the year with a clear cultural conscience.

It is unsurprising that niche counties like Kilkenny and Kerry who only specialise in one sport are successful in their chosen narrow field of expertise. However they are pitifully lacking in almost every other discipline - the notion of a Kilkenny footballer or Kerry hurler sticks a smile on every Cork set of lips.

And it doesn't stop there. Neither of these so-called "sporting greats" have a League of Ireland team, an international soccer or rugby star, a swimmer or athlete of note.

Those counties act like spoofing chefs flaunting a false sense of greatness: they can only cook one decent dish.

Don't be duped by the superfluous seasoning drizzled on these one-dimensional counties by their one dimensional promoters in the media - just look at the facts, or more accurately, the results. The evidence of greatness all points south to the Rebel county and Sunday's five-in-a-row confirms Cork's amazing legacy as Ireland's greatest county.

Upon tasting one mouthful of the mono-code county's cuisine, the philistines in the national media believe they are tasting the food of a master chef but you can teach anyone to perfect a single dish . Cork it's different. We'll give you a sensational ten course meal.

Just look at this summer alone. Cork girls Derval O'Rourke and Olive Loughnane did spectacularly well at the World Athletic Championships in Berlin (and for some reason RTE, despite paying about €350,000 for the broadcast package, refused to screen the events live - a story for another day perhaps).

Swimmer Lisa Cummins from Blackrock didn't just swim the English channel last week and settle for that. Oh no. When she got to France she immediately did an about turn and swam back again making her the first Irish person (that's "person" and not just "woman") to complete this mid-boggling jaw-dropping achievement. A 35 hour gruelling feat that only could only have been completed by a Corkonian.

Lisa gets a kiss from her auld fella at Cork Airport

And by the way while we're on swimming, in case that wasn't enough for the Cork cause, 15 year old Fermoy lad Owen O'Keeffe became the youngest Irish person to swim across the channel at the same time. Michael Phelps better make the most of his time in the limelight because this north Cork swimmer is going to blow everyone out of the water when he's ready for the big stage.

Speaking of "smallies" John D. O'Callaghan and Liam McCarthy from Riverstick won the EU Young Scientist Competition. Just in case proving Cork teens are the best in Ireland was in any doubt.

Two weeks ago the Cork camogie team beat Kilkenny by a whopping eight points in their All-Ireland final to bag the county's 24th title. Just two more and they'll reach the top of the roll of honour replacing Dublin who haven't won anything since 1984.

The list goes on and on. Far longer than the list of excuses for mono-code counties who excel in one sport and lose the run of themselves.

And, for the non-Corkonians reading this, don't give us the smaller population argument as an excuse for scientific and sporting ineptitude. We're clearly better at reproducing too so that's why there's more Corkonians - the health and fitness of our women doesn't just bring medals, cups and plaudits - they bring us more little Corkonians too.

So, here's to the ladies of Cork and their amazing achievements who have made Cork so immensely proud.