In 697AD the Synod of Birr decreed that it was illegal to force women into having to take part in warfare. So it was in the name of sport that the Ladies of Cork and Dublin met in the same neutral territory to do battle as that august forum all those years ago.
Cork captain Amy OShea is on record saying that the Dubs Sinead Aherne would need to be watched and when the game started, Cork gave away a free and Sinead opened the Dublin tally. Dublin had a point from a free in the first minute. But the Cork girls were not to be outdone and immediately replied with one of their own which came from play. That was it from Cork until the 15th minute when a free was converted by which time the Girls in Blue had chalked up six points on the board. Dublins Niamh McEvoy in the midfield was sin binned just moments later and Dublins attack dried up. Cork added two more from frees and missed another three easy chances against the Dubs 14 although they had lost their No 13 to the sin bin a little earlier, so it was 14-a-side for a few minutes. When the countdown clock was showing a little over 2 minutes left, poor support play in the Dubs forward line saw the ball lost to the Cork defence and they chased up the pitch. It resulted in their second point from play and left them trailing by 2. Cork won the kick-out and with a minute left got the ball to the boot of Mairead Kelly who blasted the back of the Dublin netting despite Cliodhna OConnors best attempts. Elated from creeping ahead in the scores tally and with seconds left the next kick-out went to Cork and Nollaig Cleary pointed to put the Rebels two points clear. The kick-out was sure and fast and even as the hooter went, the Referee had called a foul against Cork which Sinead Ahearne converted to leave the half time score board reading Dublin 0-8 and Cork 1-6. This game was hotting up.
Nothing could have predicted the opening moments of the second half if the performance in the first 30 minutes was used as a barometer. From the get go Dublin tore into the game and Noelle Healy buried the ball in the netting that Cork were minding. Bang and 30 seconds later Sinead Ahearne repeated the feat. Before some spectators had resumed their seats after the interval and before the clock had ticked off 2 minutes, Cork rattled Cliodhnas netting again. 3-8 to 2-6 ! Cork piled on the pressure and missed three chances. They evan had a penalty awarded which struck the upright. Then and the other end of he park, Lyndsey Davey put one over stretching the Dubs lead a bit more - a six point game. Another Cork free pointed and another Dublin goal from Lyndsey to widen the gap to 8. Noelle Healy caught he ball nicely and made the gap 9 just before the countdown clock was half way through. Cork replied with a free and then the Cork countdown began in eanest. They began to overrun the Dubs and the earlier inaccurate kicking became positive. Dublins Sinead Goldrick wearing No 4 fell afoul of the Referee and went to the sin bin. It didnt help Dublins cause as the Cork tally edged closer to the now static Dublin scoreboard. In fact the Girls in Blue didnt get much of a chance in the 3rd quarter with just one wide recorded for Lyndsey Davey in the notes. With the minutes ticking down the Cork crowd got excited and the more vocal Dublin support began all manner of chanting and clapping to lift their side but when Cork made another lovely point from play with less than three minutes left it put them a point ahead. By now, with total dominence of the pitch, the last two wides from Cork can be consigned to the stat takers notebook.
And so it finished Dublin 3-10 to Cork 2-14. The battle was over and the good people of Birr can rest assured that the edict of their Synod was kept intact.
The TG4 All-Ireland ladies football champions Dublin lost their crown in dramatic circumstances at Birr as Cork produced an amazing comeback to win by a point.
With 16 minutes left, Dublin led by 3-10 to 2-7, but seven unansweredpoints from the Rebels saw them over the line to reach the last four and leave them firm favourites to regain their title.
For the bulk of the first half, Dublin were excellent, crowding out the Cork attack to deny them space while at the other end their shootingwas deadly accurate, with no wide registered by the Leinster side untilthe 27th minute.
In contrast, Cork were finding it difficult to register scores, only scoring once from play before the 29th minute, but amazingly they still managed to lead by a point, 1-6 to 0-8, at half-time.
Full-forward Sinead Aherne had been excellent for Dublin, scoring sixfirst-half points, while Corks troubles were heightened by the loss ofValerie Mulcahy to a yellow card in the 12th minute, but just before she was due to return, Dublin lost Niamh McEvoy, who had been excellent alongside Denise Masterson in midfield.
With the extra numbers, Cork began to play, Rhona Ní Bhuachalla with afine point before Mairead Kelly found the net with a looping shot over Cliodhna OConnor. Nollaig Cleary added another to put Cork two ahead, though Ahernes free cut the gap to the minimum at half-time.
The start to the second half was manic, however, as first Noelle Healy and then Aherne both scored goals in the opening two minutes to turn the game, though Ní Bhuachalla responded with a Cork goal at the other end to leave it 2-8 to 2-6 for Dublin.
Lyndsey Davey extended the lead, but in the 39th minute Cork got a great chance to equalise when Grace Kearney was fouled in the large rectangle.
Mulcahys penalty hit the post and bounced across goal and wide, however, and the extent of the miss was magnified when Davey struck for agoal moments later, her shot to the roof of the net giving Elaine Harteno chance.
After Juliet Murphy and Healy exchanged points, it was 3-10 to 2-7 but slowly Cork began to get on top, coming at Dublin in waves as the reigning champions early intensity began to catch up on them.
Two from Mulcahy and then one by Healy left a goal in it, and while Dublin were trying to defend doggedly, they could not withstand the siege. An excellent point by corner-back Deirdre OReilly on 55 cut the lead to two, then Mulcahy pointed again before Ní Bhiuachalla levelled.
The momentum was firmly with the Rebels now and the comeback was completed in the 57th minute when Murphy scored her fifth point, Cork playing keep-ball in the closing stages to run out the clock and claim asemi-final spot.
Scorers for Cork: J Murphy 0-5 (0-4f), R Ni Bhuachalla 1-2, V Mulcahy 0-4 (0-2f), M Kelly 1-0, A OShea, O Finn, N Cleary 0-1 each.
Scorers for Dublin: S Aherne 1-6 (0-4f), N Healy 1-2, L Davey 1-1, E Kelly 0-1.
Cork: E Harte; Anne Marie Walsh, Angela Walsh, D OReilly; B Corkery, B Stack, G OFlynn; J Murphy, R Buckley; N Cleary, MKelly, G Kearney; V Mulcahy, R Ní Bhuachalla, A OShea.
Subs: A Hutchings for OFlynn, N Kelly for M Kelly, OFinn for Cleary (all 46), Annie Walsh for Stack (49), A Sheehan for OShea (53).
Dublin: C OConnor; G OMalley, J OSullivan, S Goldrick; G Fay, S Furlong, A McKenna; D Masterson, N McEvoy; N Healy, EKelly, L Peat; L Davey, S Aherne, A Ring.
Subs: A McGuinness for Ring, S McGrath for McKenna (both half-time), S Finnegan for McEvoy (42), McKenna for Peat (56), S Woods for Healy (59).
Referee: J Niland (Sligo).
