Cora Staunton: 'I certainly want to be involved in coaching'

By Cian O'Connell

Sport is always on the agenda for Cora Staunton.

That's just the way it is. Last week it was announced in Mayo that Niall Heffernan and his Ballina Stephenites management team were stepping down following a hugely successful stint.

Staunton was a significant part of that journey as a coach and selector. "We'll see where we'll go next," she says.

"Since I finished in Australia, I’ve been involved in coaching so I probably just need to clear my head and see what's next. I certainly want to be involved in coaching.

"I loved my time with Ballina, absolutely loved my time with the lads, I learned so much there, working with the likes of David Clarke and Niall Heffernan and also so many great players.

"We were lucky enough we won three-in-a-row county titles. I’m sure you’ll see me involved coaching somewhere again soon."

Lisa Fallon's inclusion in Éamon Fitzmaurice's Galway management set-up is important. Will it help to break down barriers for women coaching at the highest level? "Yeah, I think so," Staunton responds.

"But really it’s just for females to get opportunities. I was just lucky Niall gave me an opportunity to come in with Ballina. I had worked with Niall briefly when he was involved with Mayo in 2017 for a couple of months. He was in as a selector that season and then he gave me a call three years ago to see if I'd be interested in coming in with Ballina.

"I'm probably lucky because I probably had a bit of a name from playing and maybe I was going to get the opportunity more so than somebody who might be a very good coach.

"Similarly, Lisa Fallon, she's a big name and is getting an opportunity with Galway and it can only help females in terms of coaching.

"You just hope that maybe other females who don't have the profile, but have everything else, the skills and everything to be good coaches, that they get the opportunity.

"I suppose you feel a little bit of pressure too, I felt a bit of pressure going in with Ballina because you just weren’t sure what people would think or would you be successful. I certainly felt a bit of pressure to have success with them and thankfully we did.

"You put a lot of time into it, but I love it, I love the coaching aspect, the analysis side of it, I love digging into all that.

"It's a lot of commitment but it's very much you are continuing the trail of your three or four times a week as a sportsperson, you are just not doing it as a player on the pitch but doing it everywhere else."

On Friday, Staunton will be inducted into the Gaelic Writers' Association Ladies Football Hall of Fame, proudly supported by Clayton Hotels. "I’m probably one of those who does not dwell on what I've done or what’s gone before," she explains.

"I probably thought my days of awards were over, I’d be more looking at what’s next. But it is nice to sit back and reflect, more so for my friends and family rather than me.

"I suppose it's an acknowledgement of them and my club I suppose is the biggest thing. It's a reflection on them and all of the people who helped me along the way. It's easy to be top of your game when you have a lot of people doing a lot of work for you.

"I've been blessed with the club I played for and the coaches I had, and then my teammates and family and friends as well. It's more so for them, my dad and my family, and then my really close friends who all would have been involved in playing for Carnacon or Mayo or I would have played football at some level with them.

"It's nice from that point of view, but I still probably get a little bit nearly embarrassed when people are mentioning Hall of Fame and stuff like that. I’m not one who wants too much of the limelight, to be honest."

CORA STAUNTON will be inducted into the Gaelic Writers’ Association Ladies Football Hall of Fame at the 2026 GWA Awards tomorrow night (FRI), sponsored by Clayton Hotels. Cora's name is synonymous with ladies football and particularly its extraordinary growth in this century. The recognised leader of the Mayo team that won four All-Ireland titles in a five-year spell (1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002), she made her debut for her county aged 13 in 1995 and was an All-Star in 11 different years.