TG4 All Ireland Ladies FootballSenior Final

DUBLIN 1-10 CORK 1-5

By Paul Keane at Croke Park

Dublin are TG4 All-Ireland ladies football champions for the fourth year running following a terrific second-half display at Croke Park.

Trailing by three points at half-time they dug deep and came roaring back into the contest to inflict yet more misery on old rivals Cork whom they beat by the same five-point margin in the 2018 decider.

Carla Rowe's 35th minute penalty conversion put Dublin ahead for the first time and they didn't look back, outscoring Cork by 1-7 to 0-2 in total in the second-half.

Rowe finished with 1-3 in total while Nicole Owens and Noelle Healy also weighed in with crucial scores as Mick Bohan's team turned the corner on a slow start.

It's Dublin's fifth title in total and there was a notable fresh accolade too for captain Sinead Aherne as she is now the first captain to skipper a team to four successive titles.

The experienced forward suffered a hamstring strain in the semi-final defeat of Armagh and was perhaps hampered by that as she was withdrawn at half-time though she returned to the pitch for the closing exchanges.

Dublin were in a tricky position at half-time as they trailed a powerful and hungry looking Cork side by 1-3 to 0-3.

All Dublin could muster in that opening period from open play was a couple of points from Owens and Healy with Aherne contributing the other from a free.

They had a couple of goal chances but Owens fired straight at the goalkeeper with one and Healy, through on goal after a slaloming run through the Cork defence, dragged her kick left and wide of the upright.

Dublin struck half a dozen first-half wides while Cork, in turn, were more efficient and got a terrific start when Aine O'Sullivan slammed to the net after just two minutes.

It was a sumptuous move that ended with Doireann O'Sullivan laying off to Aine O'Sullivan on the right of goals to fire across the goalkeeper into the far corner at the Hill 16 End.

She took her tally to 1-1 with an eighth minute point and Orla Finn struck Cork's other two first-half points.

It wasn't a classic contest and the low scoring was reminiscent of last year's Dublin-Galway encounter but the intensity was high between two ultra committed teams.

There were some intriguing matchups with AllStar Dublin defender Niamh Collins picking up Cork captain Doireann O'Sullivan and holding her scoreless.

Lauren Magee, bound for the AFLW and the Melbourne club shortly along with colleagues Sinead Goldrick and Niamh McEvoy, wore number eight but played in a defensive role.

Dublin returned for the second-half with far more vigour and turned in an outstanding 30-minute performance to ensure they retained the Brendan Martin Cup.

Defender Aoife Kane reduced the deficit with a neat point and Dublin took the lead for the first time five minutes after the restart when Rowe netted from the penalty spot.

It was Rowe who was dragged down by goalkeeper Martina O'Brien for the penalty after being put through by Jennifer Dunne who had a strong second-half.

Rowe added three more points from frees as Dublin turned the screw.

Cork were powerless to prevent the Sky Blues onslaught with Ciara O'Sullivan registering their only point from open play in the second-half.

Scorers for Dublin: Carla Rowe 1-3 (1-0pen, 3fs), Nicole Owens 0-2, Noelle Healy 0-2, Sinead Aherne 0-1 (f), Aoife Kane 0-1, Kate Sullivan 0-1.

Scorers for Cork: Aine O'Sullivan 1-1, Orla Finn 0-3 (2fs), Ciara O'Sullivan 0-1.

DUBLIN: Ciara Trant; Martha Byrne, Niamh Collins, Leah Caffrey; Aoife Kane, Sinead Goldrick, Lauren Magee; Siobhan McGrath, Jennifer Dunne; Noelle Healy, Nicole Owens, Carla Rowe; Sinead Aherne, Niamh McEvoy, Lyndsey Davey.

Subs: Kate Sullivan for Aherne (HT), Orlagh Nolan for Kane (47), Sarah McCaffrey for McEvoy (47), Caoimhe O'Connor for Owens 57), S Aherne for Davey (60).

CORK: Martina O'Brien; Melissa Duggan, Roisin Phelan, Eimear Meaney; Erika O'Shea, Ashling Hutchings, Shauna Kelly; Maire O'Callaghan, Hannah Looney; Eimear Kiely, Ciaran O'Sullivan, Orla Finn; Aine O'Sullivan, Doireann O'Sullivan, Saoirse Noonan.

Subs: Niamh Cotter for Kiely (44), Sadhbh O'Leary for Finn (52), Libby Coppinger for Noonan (52), Aisling Kelleher for Meaney (60), Meabh Cahalane for Kelly (60).

REFEREE: Jonathan Murphy (Carlow).