Cork captain Ciara O’Sullivan paid tribute to the four Rebels who collected their 11th All-Ireland ladies football title at Croke Park on Sunday.
Cork completed a six in-a-row and made it 11 crowns in 12 years after edging out Dublin in a tense final.
O’Sullivan lifted the Brendan Martin Cup on the steps of the Hogan Stand and she was quick to pay tribute to the team’s outstanding stars.
They are Bríd Stack, Deirdre O’Reilly, Briege Corkery and Rena Buckley, who boast an incredible collection of 44 senior football medals between them.
“It’s remarkable – there are only four of them with all of the medals so you have to admire them hugely,” said O’Sullivan, speaking to RTÉ Sport.
“They drive the whole thing on and the rest of us are very lucky because we’ve come onto the team when they were so successful.”
Directly after the game, O’Sullivan wasn’t aware of the controversy that hung over Cork’s one-point win, their third win over Dublin in the final on the spin.
After 22 minutes Dublin’s Carla Rowe had a point at the Hill 16 end of the ground waved wide. Television replays clearly showed the ball going over the bar.
“It’s nearly sweeter when it’s a tight game like that,” said O’Sullivan.
”But our heart goes out to Dublin – three years in a row, one point two years and two points the other. Your heat would go out to them, but we’re delighted to with the win.”
Buckley was also quick to pay tribute to Dublin, before adding that Cork’s experience of winning big games stood to them in a tense second half.
Dublin owned the balls for stretches, but couldn’t break down the Rebels’ stonewall defence.
“Dublin are an excellent team and they have been excellent all throughout the year so we had to be at our very best to beat them,” noted Buckley.
“The conditions were terrible, there were a lot of mistakes and fumbling balls and kicking the ball in wasn’t really an option. We do have a bit of experience of being here and that showed in the end.”
