Sportswoman of the month: Cora Staunton has made her mark at an alarmingly early stage in the season. Gavin Cummiskey finds the Mayo star as eager as ever for success
The other contenders for the Irish Times/Mitsubishi Electric Sports Woman of the Year award lost significant ground by allowing Cora Staunton to win the monthly award for April. It's far too early in the year for the Mayo footballer to be picking up such an accolade but 1-10 (1-6 from play) in the National League final victory over Cork made her a unanimous choice.
It was a hard-earned victory in Pearse Park. The youthful exuberance of a Cork team mostly fresh out of a successful minor set-up saw them race into a 1-7 to 0-4 lead by the interval. Cora was thrown into full forward and the comeback began in earnest.
Mayo have dominated the woman's championship for six years now, their only blip being a last-minute defeat to Laois in the 2001 All-Ireland final, and Cora has been a key component in each success. Yet, they had not won the league since 2000; normally they use it as a warm-up for the summer.
The achievement is even more remarkable considering the 22-year-old Carnacon native has just recovered from the cruciate-ligament damage that hindered her performances at the tail-end of last year. She probably would have picked up another All-Star anyway but for an archaic ruling that stated a player sent off cannot be considered.
"I spent a lot of time in the gym strengthening up over the winter months," she reveals. "I haven't had trouble from the knee in a good while but the cruciate is still stretched. I wouldn't say I've regained full fitness but our hard training starts now so it's only a matter of time."
Remarkably, this will be her eighth championship campaign.
"The motivation is still there. We know people will start talking about the three-in-a-row over the next while but we will just focus on improving our game by 10 to 20 per cent. If we do that we will be there or thereabouts come the finish."
Everyone wants a piece of Cora Staunton. Mayo of course is the priority but her club, Carnacon, and Athlone IT - where she is currently sitting her finals in Sport and Tourism - also require her input, leaving little time for rest and relaxation.
Nobody with football blood coursing through her veins would renege on club duties, while Athlone have her on a scholarship so there are certain obligations.
She even became involved with training the Mayo minors last year. For her own good that will not continue this year.
Time and again she makes it clear that when her football days are over there will be time for other things. At least next year the college commitments will be one less thing to worry about. She may even get a chance to spread her wings and see the world.
But as June comes creeping over the horizon the ever-more-competitive championship will demand all her concentration. Galway are first up, on June 27th.
En route to their first league title in four years Mayo met several obstacles on and off the pitch. Days before the semi-final against Waterford, central council expelled them from all competitions for failing to comply with a mediator's decision regarding jerseys.
They were supposed to wear O'Neill's tops; instead, they did a deal with Azzurri. The ruling was that all teams must wear O'Neill's from the semi-finals on, so Mayo were on a collision course with Croke Park.
"I personally thought it was a bit ridiculous," reflects Staunton. "We still don't know what rule we broke. We wore our jerseys up to the semi-final but when the games began to be televised we had to change. To be honest, we really don't care. The football is all we're interested in."
