Cork ladies football boss Shane Ronayne optimistic as fixtures confirmed for All-Ireland series

BY KIERAN McCARTHY

SHANE Ronayne feels Cork’s first-half performance in the Munster final defeat to Kerry is proof that the Rebels are moving in the right direction.

While ultimately it was Kerry that wrestled the provincial crown from Cork’s grasps with a 2-15 to 0-13 win in Mallow, in the opening half the Rebels reeled off nine points in a row to build a 0-9 to 0-3 lead.

A Kerry goal just before halftime threw the Kingdom a lifeline they needed, and they kicked on in the second half as Cork hit a wall.

Clonakilty's Katie O'Driscoll played in her first Munster senior final recently.

Still, following a league campaign that saw Cork relegated from Division 1 after six defeats in a row, an improved showing in the Munster championship offers hope ahead of the All-Ireland series that kicks off in June.

‘There was a spell in the first half when we kicked nine points in a row, we played some fantastic football and Kerry had no answer to us,’ Ronayne said.

‘We are going into an All-Ireland series now knowing we are good enough to be there or thereabouts because if you put in a spell like we did against Kerry and score nine on the trot, it’s a positive to build on.’

‘We are going in the right direction and the girls will benefit from the Munster final experience.’

Cork are in Group 3 of the All-Ireland championship, alongside Galway and Laois, with the Rebels away to the Leinster team on June 9th and then home to the Tribeswomen on June 15th – Ronayne acknowledges both are huge games. Two of the three teams will advance to the All-Ireland quarter-finals.

‘We have Galway who beat us last year in the group stage, and we have them at home and that is a big game. First, it’s Laois and we know they’ll be tricky, but if we can get into an All-Ireland quarter-final anything can happen,’ added Ronayne, who is backing his new-look team to cause a surprise in the championship.

From the Cork team that started the 2023 Munster final win against Kerry, only five started in the recent provincial final in Mallow – Melissa Duggan, Anna Ryan, Sarah Leahy, Aoife Healy and Katie Quirke. It highlights, again, the sudden overhaul the squad has had, as experienced players like Ciara O’Sullivan, Doireann O’Sullivan, Roisin Phelan and Eimear Meaney have all retired.

‘There were players starting their first Munster final, ten players who started this year’s final who didn’t last year, so a game like this will bring them on,’ Ronayne added.