Cork have named just one change to the starting 15 for Sunday’s All-Ireland final against Dublin, writes Mary White.
Beara’s Aine Terry O’Sullivan comes in at corner-forward in the place of Bantry’s Libby Coppinger, and the UCC student will make her second consecutive All-Ireland final start.
Coach Ephie Fitzgerald has no injury worries to report and the squad will stick to a similar routine to the one they’ve followed for their previous 10 senior All-Ireland final appearances.
Cork will bid to make history on Sunday when they vie to win the county’s first ever six in-a-row – a feat no Cork senior GAA team has ever succeeded in, with camogie coming closest with four in-a-row (1970-73) following on from the hurlers in the Forties (1941-44).
A total of 12 players – Deirdre O’Reilly, Briege Corkery, Brid Stack, Rena Buckley, Rhona Ní Bhuachalla, Aisling Barrett, Orla Finn, Ciara O’Sullivan, Ashling Hutchings, Orlagh Farmer, Jessica O’Shea and Roisín O’Sullivan – will attempt the feat which has only ever been achieved in ladies football once, by the great Kerry team of the Eighties (1982 to 1987).
In 2010 under former coach Eamonn Ryan, the Rebels were on route to contesting for six in-a-row however they fell to Tyrone in the All-Ireland quarter-final – a game which remains the only fixture they have lost since 2005 in the All-Ireland series.
This time out Dublin boss Gregory McGonigle’s side will be hoping to make it third time lucky, while McGonigle himself will be looking to change the record having suffered at the hands of the previous Cork regime in four All-Ireland finals – in 2011 and 2013 as Monaghan boss and in 2014 and 2015 with Dublin.
Video from Jerome Quinn.
Cork will face Dublin at 4pm on Sunday in Croke Park, while the intermediate final sees Munster champions Clare take on Kildare at 1.45pm, and the junior final between Antrim and Longford at 11.45pm. To buy tickets, see www.tickets.ie.
Cork team: M O’Brien; M Ambrose, B Stack, R Phelan; V Foley, D O’Reilly, S Kelly; R Buckley, B Corkery; A Walsh, C O’Sullivan (C), O Farmer; AT O’Sullivan, D O’Sullivan, O Finn.
