Insatiable.
There’s something almost concerning about these Cork ladies.
How they can come back year after year, smelling blood, biting their teeth. How they travel the country week after week and still have that teenage zest. How their brilliance, their dominance, hasn’t even come close to being tamed in a decade.
In September, the Rebels painted Croke Park red for a 10th time. 10 times in 11 years they claimed All-Ireland championship glory.
And it’s almost routine now. They celebrate, they go back to their clubs but, come 2016, they are raring to go again. Restless. Ravenous. Relentless.
Then, on Saturday evening, it was just what we call vintage Cork by this stage. Mayo stood in their way, Mayo were pushed aside, Cork were parading around with a 10th Division One league title on the plains of Parnell Park.
And it means as much to them as the nine others did. As much as the 10 All-Irelands did. Briege Corkery’s acrobatics in the main image above would tell you as much.
They’re just a group of women who love playing football, they love playing for their county and, by God, they’re just a group of women who happen to be damn good at both of those things. They happen to be the best.
You know, we’re lucky in this country that we see so many female athletes rise up and inspire the nation.
This generation all had Sonia O’Sullivan’s world-beating antics to marvel at. Katie Taylor is one of the greatest sportspeople of all time and as recently as last year, Stephanie Roche was rubbing shoulders with James Rodriguez and Robin van Persie vying for a Puskas Award.
All over the country, down through the years, there are role models and legends. There are people who tell you we can. You can.
"Female sportspeople need female role models" https://t.co/4XQamzGWC5
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) February 26, 2016
Then we have this Cork team.
We have a group of amateur footballers just living their everyday lives – working, studying, being family women. We have a group of female sportspeople who are no doubt starved of the same spotlight and admiration as their male equivalents but, somehow in all of that, the ladies of Cork are there shining their own light.
The ladies of Cork are there undeterred. They’re putting in the yards and they’re running further again and they’re there at the end of it all in September having sacrificed another year for the cause. Not just Tuesday or Thursday nights. Not just for weekends. We’re talking a full year. And they’ve been doing it for over 10 years now.
Saturday was just another good night that makes it all worthwhile though.
The sweeping team move that led to Rhona Ní Bhuachalla palming to the Mayo goals are the moments – the moments of perfection – that they strive towards.
Wrestling with the mighty Cora Staunton – almost a mythical figure at this stage – and coming out on top at the end of the war is what gives those ladies in red some sense of fulfilment.
And seeing that more and more girls are springing up, coming to the fore and believing that they too can achieve in sport because of the example of Cork, that’s nearly more important than all of the Division One titles combined. That’s nearly their purpose.
Great crowd at the @lidl_ireland Division 1 NFL final in Parnell Park… near on 700 is the guess pic.twitter.com/cBuxguvDCw
— Mary White (She/Her) (@mary_white33) May 7, 2016
But they should savour these moments too – we all should.
We should appreciate Orla Finn’s ridiculously long free before the break that set up a frightening second half performance from arguably the player of the match. We should stop and just try to make sense of Rena Buckley running bloody riot any time Cork ventured forward and we should drink in another battle won by the Rebels, 1-10 to 0-10.
In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t even touch what Cork are doing for aspiring sportspeople all over the island. In the bigger picture of 2016 even, it probably won’t be the last time they’re celebrating in Dublin either.
But week after week, year after year, these girls are asked questions and, every single time, they seem to come up with a better answer.
And, sometimes, it’s just important to stop and appreciate it while it’s here. Enjoy this Cork team. Enjoy these battles. Enjoy how they’re inspiring the next batch but, most of all, just enjoy how they kick a ball.
Because, sooner or later, there will come a time when we’re asking if this group was the greatest team ever. We don’t want to miss it while it’s here.
They wouldn’t let us anyway.
