Change this year
during the year however when it comes to collecting silverware just one captain will be allowed to lift the cup – sorting out an issue that most people didn’t know existed.
Another technicality that most GAA fans didn’t know existed has also been addressed as from now on teams will be allowed to start the second half of a game with just 13 players. Up to now teams had to have 15 players on the field at the start of the second period even though they were only required to have 13 at the initial throw in. A small change that will have an impact on smaller rather than larger clubs.
The last of the major measures that will affect Cork players and fans sees a contraction of the time allowed for second and third level competitions.
Post Primary All Irelands must now be completed by the week following St Patrick’s Day seeing the Harty and the Corn Uí Mhuirí brought forward. At the older students level the Sigerson Cup must be wrapped up by the seventh Sunday of the year with the Fitzgibbon needing to be done seven days later.
Another motion that may have slipped by most people related to the advantage rule and giving the aggrieved player more of an advantage.
The new rule states that: “If an aggressive foul is committed then the referee can allow play to continue if he believes the attacking team have a potential goal-scoring opportunity. This period of advantage can last for up to five seconds. If it becomes clear after five seconds that no advantage has accrued, then he can award a free.”
This rule came in after it was agreed that the current advantage rule does not offer the fouled player enough of a chance to make the most from the scoring situation.
Another motion dealing with bad behaviour (Motion 22) looked to deal with the ever-increasing list of misconduct incidents carried out by team officials. Motion 22 seeks to define misconduct and introduce “a scale of sanctions that includes match suspensions rather than time suspensions”.
From here on in the practice of waving one’s hands while standing in front of someone taking a free will be no more as it will be deemed a “foul to distract someone by waving hurl/arms while they are taking a puck-out/ kick-out or side-line puck/kick”.
This one may well be seen as a nod to the respect shown by players in other codes, most noticeably rugby where the kicker is shown respect – however don’t expect to see a dead silence in Croke Park anytime soon on All Ireland Final day.
There wasn’t that much made emphasis on medial matters this time round however Motion 27 did deal with substitutions for concussion.
Up to this point a team could make a temporary substitution (or blood sub) when a player was injured however Motion 27 wanted to allow the “temporary substitution of a player with a suspected head injury”. As expected this one sailed through as all things head injury and concussion are now deemed to be of the utmost importance.
The 2021 Congress may have had to be conducted very differently from all previous congresses but the workload that was got through and the initiatives that were passed may well make a good case for having all future congresses take place remotely – not likely to be fair.
Another motion that may have slipped by most people related to the advantage rule and giving more of an advantage
ACOUPLE of weeks ago the GAA/GPA All Stars in men’s football and hurling were awarded for outstanding performances in the 2020 Championship, with the presitigious - and sometimes controversial - honours marking its milestone 50th anniversary.
Last week the the Ladies Gaelic Football Association (LGFA) announced its Teams of the Championship for 2020 - a revamped version of the All Stars, which last year reached its 40th anniversary, a notable milestone.
A cursory look at the leaderboard shows Cork sitting in second place on the table, with an impressive 83 All Stars collected over those 40 years. The Rebels sit six awards behind Kerry, and 15 ahead of Waterford and Dublin, which is some indication of Munster’s overall dominance of the women’s game over the last four decades.
Of course, it would be easy to believe - given Cork’s near total dominace of the All-Ireland Championship from 2005 to 2016 (11
All-Ireland titles in 12 years) - that the Rebels might be top of the pile, but those of a slightly older vintage will know that Kerry were just as dominate through the 1980s, winning nine Championship in a row from 1982 to 1990, before Waterford win five of the next eight between 1991 and 1998.
Although the LGFA was formed back in 1974 it wasn’t until 1980 that the concept of picking All Star teams was formulated. The 1980s coincided with the breakthrough of Kerry’s record breaking nine in a row team so Kerry players, understandably, feature strongly from the very start. It wasn’t until 1985 that Cork were first recognised on an All Star selection when Joan Shannon and Mairead O’Leary, the former at left corner back, and O’Leary at left corner forward. It was another eight years before Cork’s third All Star arrived, courtesy of corner back Margaret Buckley in 1993, and two years later Fiona O’Driscoll was named in the half forward line on the 1995 All Star team.
Cork still hadn’t appeared in an All-Ireland final by that stage, but all that was about to change with the appointment of the late
Eamonn Ryan as senior team manager in January 2004. By the end of the year Cork had two more All Stars - six in total now - with Rena Buckley and Valerie Mulcahy honoured, and by October 2005 the Rebels would be All-Ireland champions for the first time. The Brendan Martin Cup would become a near permanent resident on Leeside for the next decade, as would the steady flow of All Star awards as Cork started to dominate the All Star selections...
NORMALLY, as has been seen throughout the years, All Ireland finalists pick up a good share of the individual awards, but the 1980 All Ireland champions, Tipperary, had just three players picked: Ann Maher at right corner back, Rosie Stapleton at midfield, and Lillian Gorey at right corner forward. Beaten finalists Cavan fared even worse, with goalkeeper Martina McGuire their only representative. It probably didn’t help that the 1980 All-Ireland final was one of the worst in the history of the Association with Tipperary triumphing by a low scoring 1-1 to 0-1.
It is interesting to see the county-by-county breakdown from 1980 to 1989. Kerry, as the dominant team of the era claimed 48 All Stars, 32% of the total amount which would reflect their superiority at the time. Wexford, who lost three All Ireland finals in that period to Kerry, are next up with 24 All Stars (17%), and in third spot are Offaly with a total of 15 (10%).
Cork, who would become the dominant force of the 2000s, had only two awards to show with Joan Shannon and Mairead O’Leary the first to pick up gongs for the Rebel county. Also, whilst Mary Jo Curran was picking up 10 of her 11 awards in this decade, goalkeeper Kathleen Kennedy became Dublin’s first All Star in 1983 and she followed up with another in 1984. Marriage brought her to Kerry, and she won a further five with the Kingdom where she was now known by her married name, Kathleen Curran.
Kerry continued to pick up the All-Star gongs in the early ‘90s as they were still a force to be reckoned with, and they claimed All-Ireland titles in 1990 and 1993, which is also the last time that Kerry captured the Brendan Martin Cup. Geraldine O’Shea picked up the first of her five in 1995 and 1996, but with success on the field at a premium, it was a further five years before they were honoured again, when Sarah O’Connor was chosen at right corner forward in 2001.
Waterford and Monaghan were the new football forces during this decade and between them they shared seven All-Ireland titles with Waterford securing four and Monaghan three. Waterford claimed a whopping 45 All Star awards, which accounted for 30% overall, whilst Monaghan will have been disappointed to only pick up 19 (13%), with Kerry the nearest county to Waterford with 23 All Star awards (16%).
Interestingly, there was a firsttime award for London’s Patricia Mimna in 1992 and also for Clare’s Mary Keane in 1990. Tyrone also picked up their first ever All Star when Eilish Gormley was honoured in 1999. Mayo were also starting to make their move to the top tier and they picked up ten All Stars in this time period.
Mayo made the early running at the start of the Noughties and All Ireland titles in 2000, 2002 and 2003 boosted them to a healthy 28 All Stars (19%). Cora Staunton was an almost perennial figure on All Star teams during this decade picking up six, but Kerry’s Geraldine O’Shea had three in a row success in 2002, 2003 and 2004.
Dublin were starting to get very competitive and contested, but lost, three All-Ireland finals in this decade which boosted them to 15 All Stars (10%), whilst Monaghan were still battling away and amassed 12 (8%) and Kerry 7 (5%)...
THE big story, however, was the emergence of Cork as the ultimate force in ladies football in the second half of the 2000s and after winning five titles in a row from 2005 to 2009 they were honoured with 31 All Stars (21%). The 2004 campaign signalled the start of Rena Buckley’s
haul of All Stars in football and camogie, with the dual star amassing six in football and five in camogie from 2004 to her last camogie award in 2017.
Valerie Mulcahy, who was Cork’s other All Star winner in 2004, was another player who would end up with six All Stars (’04, ’05, ’07, ’12, ’13 and ’15). Three other Cork women - Angela Walsh, Juliet Murphy and Geraldine O’Flynn - also finished their career being honoured six times on an All Star team, while Deirdre was a five-time winner.
Brid Stack went one better with a magnificent seven awards (’07, ’08, ’10, ’11, ’12, ’14 and ’16) and, indeed, the Rockchapel woman was the only Cork player to win an All Star in 2010, the one year between 2005 and 2016 the county didn’t reach the All-Ireland final. In fact, given that Cork went out of the Championship at that quarter-final stage that year, it is testament to Stack’s individual performances that she made the All Star 15 in 2010.
Pride of place in Cork’s pantheon of All Stars, of course, goes to Briege Corkery who amassed an incredible 10 awards in her career. The St. Val’s club woman matched each one of her 11 All-Ireland winner’s medals with an All Star the same year with the one exception of 2006 when she was overlooked by the All Star selection committee. With 11 All-Ireland football medal (10 All Stars) and seven All-Ireland camogie titles (6 All Stars) Corkery is one of Gaelic games most decorated players.
Current Cork footballer Ciara
O’Sullivan, who has eight All-Ireland medals, has collected four All Stars awards, and there is every chance that the Mourneabbey woman, who is 31 this year, can add to that total and perhaps even join the other five Cork players who have half a dozen All Stars.
O’Neill’s sports gear manafacturer was the first official sponsor of the Ladies Football All Star awards but in 2003 TG4 came on board as the title sponsor, a move that has been hugely positive as it gave the event a much higher profile
and sense of prestige. One of the changes that the TG4 sponsorship brought was the staging of a banquet at which the players received their accolades.
THE period between 2010 and 2019 has been dominated by Cork and Dublin. Dublin took the All-Ireland title in 2010 to break Cork’s sequence but the Rebels then claimed their second five in a row between 2011 and 2016, and their dominance on All Stars teams during that time reflected
their success on the playing field. Dublin grasped the All-Ireland title again in 2017 and will be striving for five in a row in 2021.
Cork amassed 44 (30%) All Stars in this time frame with Dublin just one behind on 43 awards. Cora Staunton claimed her 11th individual award in 2017 to gain parity at the top of the table with Mary Jo Curran - one ahead of Briege Corkery - whilst Dublin’s Sinead Goldrick collected her seventh award in 2019.
In the last few years the household Cork names of Corkery, Buckley, Mulcahy, Stack et al have been replaced by the next generation of Cork footballers, with the aforementioned Ciara O’Sullivan leading the way with four awards since her first in 2012. Since 2014 Vera Foley (2014 & 2015), Marie Ambrose (2015 & 2016), Emma Spillane (2017 & 2018) and Orla Finn (2016 & 2019) have been twotime winners, along with Róisín Phelan, Doireann O’Sullivan and Melissa Duggan winners award also.
The 2020 awards were rebranded as the ‘TG4 Team of the Championship’, the difference being that Junior, Intermediate and Senior each had their own identity rather than one single All Star team of 15. The 2020 senior team comprised of six Dublin players, four Cork, three Armagh, one Galway and one Tipperary. Cork’s four places on the senior team went to goalkeeper Martina O’Brien, Eimear Meaney and Melissa Duggan in defence and Aine O’Sullivan in the full forward line.