LEGEND MILLS SET THE STANDARD

KATHLEEN MILLS was carried off the pitch by jubilant teammates when Dublin beat Galway to win the All-Ireland camogie title in 1961. It would be the last match the 38-year-old (above) would play for her county – and she was retiring a legend. The Galway victory was the 15th All-Ireland triumph for Mills over a 20-year inter-county career. Her remarkable record stood until Rena Buckley and Briege Corkery overtook it in 2015, and Buckley moved out on her own in 2016, finishing last September with 18. Kathleen Mills, better known as Kay, was born in Inchicore in west Dublin in 1923. Her mother died when she was 18 months old and she was raised by her maternal grandmother. She showed an aptitude for a number of sports as a child but settled on camogie, making her senior debut for Dublin in 1941 when she was 17. She played her first final that year and lost, but won three-ina-row between 1942 and 1944. A dispute saw Dublin fail to compete in the All-Ireland series in 1945 and 1946, but she won her fourth in 1948. Sixin-a-row would come between 1950 and 1955, with five-in-a-row between 1957 and 1961. Mills only came to public prominence in 2013, 17 years after her death in 1996. She was on a shortlist for the honour of having a bridge in Dublin named after her. In the end, the activist Rosie Hackett was chosen, but Mills endures as a GAA great.