Rena Buckley: 2004 final was the watershed moment for Cork dynasty
Joy for Cork in beating Kerry again in 2005. Picture: Richard Mills.
THE reason the 2004 Munster senior final sticks out in my memory more than any other is because of its significance and the feeling my teammates and I were left with when it was over.
2004 marked the first year of a new Cork senior management team. Mary Collins was manager, Éamonn Ryan came in as coach and we had Frankie Honohan and Timmy O’Callaghan involved as well. Right from the beginning, there was a freshness about the Cork squad. There was a new level of professionalism and excitement about the year.
2004’s Munster final football final took place in Páirc Uí Rinn. Even though few people favoured us, we knew we had a great chance of winning that game. There was a growing feeling within our squad that we were on the brink of something important.
I was 17 at the time and had won at every underage grade before making it onto the senior panel. There was a quiet determination in the dressing room beforehand. We were confident in our ability, especially after getting over Waterford in the semi-finals. There was also a feeling of unfinished business from our previous encounters with Kerry, especially that year. We were so disappointed in ourselves following that Munster Championship loss down in Killorglin. Kerry looked a different class to us that day.
So, whether we were going to win the 2004 Munster final or not wasn’t relevant really. This was going to be the day people would see that Kerry were not a different class to us and that Cork could now compete with teams at the highest level. That was the prevailing attitude inside the dressing room before throw-in. We had learned from our previous games and were ready to start laying down a marker at senior level.
That’s why we never panicked that day against Kerry.
I lined out at midfield alongside Juliet Murphy but we had Regina Curtin in there as well as a third midfielder. That made a huge difference. It provided us with an extra body to stop Kerry’s attacks as well as opening up more space for our forwards. What it did more than anything was prevent Kerry from building a lead and by the time we switched Regina back into the forwards in the second half, we were well on top.
Another important thing from that game was our discipline. We only conceded 11 or 12 frees in total and that was something we had worked hard on in the build-up to that Munster final. It still took a huge effort to pull away from Kerry but the confidence we had built up stood to us, especially in the second half. Nollaig Cleary, Valerie Mulcahy and Geraldine O’Flynn scored three late goals and we won handily enough in the end.
There is no doubt in my mind that winning our first Munster final was a watershed moment for ladies football in Cork. It was the first piece of silverware we won together as a group and the first time a Cork senior ladies football team won anything.
We did it when it counted and it was a huge step forward for football in the county. I know we didn’t
win our first All-Ireland until the following year but that 2004 provincial final victory over Kerry was the one, I believe, that launched us as a team.
It was from that moment on that the Cork footballers knew we were going to be a serious threat and could deliver on the big days.
As for the immediate aftermath, I will always remember the celebrations and particularly the way the older players celebrated. We were feeling on top of the world but Mary O’Connor, who had been involved with Cork for so long, was absolutely ecstatic. It was a huge moment for Mary to beat Kerry and to win a Munster senior medal.
You could sense that importance in the dressing room.
When I am asked about influences and the individuals who made a positive impact on my playing career, Éamonn Ryan is at the top of the list.
My first impression of Éamonn, even at that early stage of my football career, was how good a coach he was. He helped engender a lovely atmosphere within the Cork football panel even though people thought there might have been a bit of rivalry between different club players. Personally, I never noticed that and never thought it was a factor.
By 2004, I had played an awful lot of underage football and camogie for Cork. It was normal to be pally with players from a lot of different clubs. I hadn’t been on the club scene with Donoughmore at senior level for long so any divides between clubs wasn’t something I’d encountered at that stage of my sporting career.
For me, I was now part of a Cork senior team and contributing to that team. Éamonn treated everyone the same and made sure we pulled in the same direction. That’s why I always enjoyed his training sessions and the way he spoke to us ahead of any Cork matches.
We were starting to come up against some really big teams back then. I was still very young and learning the ropes at senior level but Éamonn always made you feel comfortable and said the right things to you in the dressing room. He made things simple and I and the team certainly responded to him because of that.
Once the Munster final celebrations had settled down, there is one moment that made a lasting impression on me from my time with the Cork senior football setup. We used to train on Wednesdays and Sundays at ‘the Farm’, as we called it, our Model Farm Road training pitches. So, we went back the following Wednesday night after winning the Munster championship.
We wouldn’t have known Éamonn all that well at that point but he used always drive his Daihatsu which we nicknamed the ‘Butter Box’ down the narrow laneway entering into the Farm. On the first night back training, Éamonn drove his Daihatsu right out on to the middle of the pitch with Tina Turner’s song ‘Simply the Best’ blaring out of the car’s cassette player.
The whole squad stood around Éamonn’s car, laughing and singing along to the tune that would become the Cork ladies football anthem over the next few years. I remember a feeling of great satisfaction at that exact moment. It was a lovely, personal moment between our squad and backroom team. We knew what we were about and all heading in the same direction. The atmosphere was fantastic and everyone was so enthusiastic.
There had been plenty ups and downs since then but that first Munster final victory was absolutely huge for the Cork players and management. I remember that lovely feeling out in the middle of a pitch, but still, we were standing around a car! All of us together and it made us feel fantastic. There was nothing cocky about it and just an expression of what Éamonn thought of us.
That’s why the 2004 Munster final will always be special.
A huge amount of work went into it and that first trophy was a long time coming for the Cork seniors. Management was so good to us and backed us from the day we first got together as a group. The players learned to back themselves because of that.
By God but things really took off from there. That’s why winning the Munster championship was such a massive first step in our journey.
Cork won their first ever ladies football senior title in commanding fashion following victory over Kerry in the 2004 Munster final held at Páirc Uí Rinn. Éamonn Ryan’s young side did it the hard way. Losing to Kerry in the opening round of the provincial championship, Cork bounced back to defeat Waterford and Clare, earning a second crack at the Kingdom in the Munster decider.
It ended 4-13 to 1-9 in Cork’s favour and sparked off celebrations when Munster Council member and Waterford manager Michael Ryan presented Juliet Murphy with the trophy. Years of hard work at both club and inter-county underage level had paid off as Cork claimed their first senior title and, unbeknownst to the management and players at the time, began a decade of dominance.
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