Three reasons why Cork won the All-Ireland
Noonan and O’Leary in devastating form
CORK had a number of fine displays throughout the field, but with an incredible haul of 5-7 between them, Saoirse Noonan and Sadhbh O’Leary were the game’s standout performers. After she set-up an O’Leary major in the opening quarter, two goals by Noonan in the space of 60 seconds ensured that Cork had developed an unassailable half-time lead. O’Leary also rattled the Galway net after the break, while Noonan completed her hat-trick.
Experience of returning players
AS defending champions, Cork were confident of once again retaining their title, and were able to call on a number of players from last year’s decider against Dublin. Their instrumental full-forward line of Grace Culloty, Noonan and O’Leary also started that gripping encounter at Pearse Park, and they were joined by two more survivors from the 2016 success – Ciara Hughes and Ciara McCarthy. The experience of this quintet has been invaluable.
Ruthless finishing in opening half
THOUGH the final scoreline would suggest that it was one-way traffic throughout, Galway twice found themselves in the ascendancy during the early exchanges.
However, some wasteful shooting meant that they couldn’t take advantage of some promising attacking opportunities, whereas the more potent Cork forward line ruthlessly picked off scores when the final outcome was still in doubt.