Cora Staunton: from Carnacon to playing her trade down under.

Cora Staunton: from Carnacon to playing her trade down under.

By Steven Kelly

Cora Staunton is well known as one of the finest ladies footballers ever to play the game. The Carnacon club-woman was ever-present on the Mayo senior ladies squad, from as far back as 1995 when she made her debut at just 13 years of age. Having won a remarkable 4 All-Irelands and a record 11 all-star awards, Cora remains humble in how it all started for her. “I grew up in a small town called Carnacon, which is about 15 minutes from the large town of Castlebar. I came from a large family. I have 4 brothers and 3 sisters and I was the 2nd youngest of the lot. My mom was a housewife and my dad was a hardworking farmer. I was always involved in sport from as young as I can remember. I played Handball, Rugby, Racquetball and Basketball in the community hall. When I was 7 there wasn’t any girls team at the time, so I played u7’s to u14’s with the boys Ballintubber team. I do think playing with the boy's team helped me develop quicker. All the skills of the game are done at a quicker pace and that obviously stood to me when I went to Ballinrobe community school, where I went on to play in junior and senior school All-Ireland finals. I would have also played in the community games in Mosney, where we were unfortunately beaten in a final. Those losses made me stronger.”

Staunton was the ideal player, quick on the ball and had an ability to slot frees over for fun. She had an ability to win her own ball from seemingly impossible positions. There were many people Cora idealized as a youngster. “I loved soccer as well. I watched a lot of Manchester United games. I would have looked up to that side in particular. I remember watching them in the 1990’s playing in the FA Cup and Premier League. Then Mayo got to the All- Ireland in 1996 and 1997. I  would have looked up to Ciaran Macdonald from that team. I also loved Maurice Fitzgerald and Sonia O’ Sullivan. Staunton was engrossed in football and she felt that a lot of people helped her in developing into the class act she soon became. “Arthur O’ Sullivan was the principal in the local primary school and he encouraged me to try my hand at any sport and gave me great confidence. In Carnacon the duo of Jimmy Corbett and Beatrice Casey helped me and the team go from strength to strength. This helped me a lot when I started playing for Mayo. I remember being involved in 3 finals in a week. We were beaten in the U16, minor and senior final, which was tough to take.”

Staunton developed quickly as a footballer and was rewarded with a senior debut in the league, at the tenure age of just 13, in 1995. “I remember playing against Laois and scoring 2-5 in that game. I made my championship debut later on and scored 1-10 in that game against Monaghan.”  This laid the foundations for a stellar career in which Cora would go on to dominate at the highest level for a staggering 24 years. She feels a lot of her success and consistency came from that hunger to win. “I think it was a success and constantly playing. I put the work in. I suppose the professionalism I experienced with Finbarr Egan helped me too. He would have been involved hugely with my career with Mayo between the age of 17 to 22. When I was about 17/18, I went to college in Athlone. Finbarr was living there at the time. He was involved in my life in both college and sport. I feel success breeds success. You would be playing or training from January to December. You would get a few weeks off at Christmas if you were lucky. Pre-season came around pretty quickly and I guess the consistency and high standards I set for myself, helped me play the game I admired for so many years. I knew that my dream was to play in Croke Park and did everything in my power to make that dream a reality.” Check out some of Cora’s greatest moments below.

https://youtu.be/ilIqT2kdKXU

Having burst onto the Mayo panel at such a young age Staunton has been around many characters over the years. “I was 13 when I came in. From about the age of 17-22, the set-up became very professional. Training and strength and conditioning improved. You would have a mix of characters that were either wound up or relaxed. Yvonne Byrne had everything. She was serious, laid back and good craic. One of the best friends I have to this day. We used to have team holidays in Spain, thinking we were the bee's knees. The trainings were tough and we used to dread the next training session. The bond was strong because we spent so much of our time in each other's company.” Cora had many attributes as a player, tidy in possession and comfortable at taking scores from out the field. “For me, I would say I was hard working. I would give it a 100 and 10 per cent. I practised a lot of frees. I always made training. My mayo career was 24 years long. I guess wanting to win was a reason for that. I would have been quite driven. Ultra commitment was needed for that to happen and I can safely say I had that.”

The women’s game has evolved a lot since Cora started. The game is spoken about more in the media and the sheer speed and ferocity in the game has gone through the roof. “Players are fitter, stronger and the game has evolved. I do think that skill isn’t where it should be, however. The strength and conditioning and nutrition are obviously at levels not seen before. Dublin has brought the intensity to a whole new level. The tackling has gone up through the roof. The physical element is something that has blown me away, in terms of how well-prepared teams are nowadays. I do think more can be done. I do feel that the LGFA, Camogie Association and GAA should fall under the one umbrella. When I was playing we would sometimes have to play on smaller pitches or even soccer pitches. We never complained. I would be in favour. For the game to grow, it is needed. It would stop mistakes from happening with fixtures and pitch situations.  In Australia, the AFL governs both the mens and women’s game.  This weekend having a Mayo vs Dublin doubleheader is a good example. Things would be more organised. Armagh is the only county that has its own pitch, in ladies football. It would stop the poor organization. Equality is needed. Exposure to our game is very important. The GPA  going as one is important and the GAA president is a supporter of this happening. Let's not talk about this in another 10 years. We need it to happen now.”

Having won 4 All- Irelands Cora felt that 2, in particular, meant more to her. “In 1999 I was injured and my mother passed away. So 2000 meant a lot to me because of the year I had previously. 2002 also meant a lot to me because we had lost the 2001 final to Laois. Our goalkeeper Yvonne Byrne got scrutiny from people for an accident that occurred in that game and after we won in 2002, it was as much a relief for her, as it was for the team. So for me, they  meant more to me, for those reasons.” Having done it all for club and county Cora was allowed to play AFL in Sydney with the giants. “It was something I kind of thought about for some time. I was contacted by Nicholas Walsh, who had seen some of my clips and he got me in touch with the coach. His son was living in London and came to watch me play. I was offered a trial and flew out a few days after winning the club All-Ireland with Carnacon. I spent the week there and was offered a contract. The ball and the physicality are huge differences between ladies football and AFL.  It is almost like American Football. You need recovery. We do 3 main pitch sessions a week during the pre-season. You might have meetings after that. We are on a tracker and do gym sessions. It is fairly full-on. You would do some craft skills and education and tactics as well. The conditions can be extremely hot to play in. Recovery is hugely important. You only realise how many sacrifices you made at home between work and training. In Australia, you would have more free time. When I played with Mayo your day would be to go to work early and then try to leave early to go to training. Because girls went to college in Dublin and Limerick, we trained in Athlone. You would sometimes only get home at 1am, having been up since 7am. At times that was particularly difficult to juggle.”

Staunton has come up against many players over her long career. “I would say that I would love to have played with Brid Stack and Deirdre Reilly. We had some great battles over the years.” Staunton has many admirers outside of the GAA. Her ideal dinner party is an interesting choice. “For me, if I had to invite a few celebrities over, I would have Roy Keane, Sir Alex Ferguson, David Beckham for his good looks and then I would have to have Lebron James and Katie Taylor, for their interesting stories.” It is fair to say that Cora Staunton has achieved everything in the ladies game and will go down as one of the finest players of all time. She is a role model, on and off the field and will certainly inspire young people to follow their dreams. Hard work and attitude for her are key. Cora is keeping the west awake and will give confidence to many girls starting out playing on the local, national and international stage.