Finn believes Cork can find more room for improvement
Cork footballer Orla Finn with her PwC GPA Women’s Player of the Month Award in Football for June in Kinsale GAA Club in Cork.
By John Harrington
Orla Finn was left with a distinct feeling of Déjà vu after Cork’s defeat to Dublin in the Lidl Ladies Football Division 1 League Final.
Another five-point defeat just like in last year’s All-Ireland Final, and another match in which they played well in fits and bursts but never quite with the sort of consistency required to take down a team of Dublin’s quality.
“I suppose it kind of happens us against Dublin, we have a good spell and then we let them back into the game and then they kind of have their purple patch for a while and we just find it hard to get back in and pull it together at the end,” admits Finn.
“It happened in Championship last year in the All-Ireland Final and the same thing happened this year. We were beaten by five points the last two times we've played Dublin now so we really have to look at ourselves and see where we can improve going forward to Championship.
“I think we're working on a kicking game a bit more now and just trying to get that balance right. Dublin are a phenomenal team and it's hard to break them down at times but I just think we have to concentrate on ourselves now going forward into this Championship and just play to our strengths.
“We have a massive bench as well, the girls coming on as subs have made a great difference in the League campaign so hopefully now there'll be massive competition for places coming into Championship and that will help us going forward as well.”
Orla Finn of Cork in action against Martha Byrne of Dublin during the Lidl Ladies Football National League Division 1 Final match between Cork and Dublin at Croke Park in Dublin.
Even if Cork do find a few more percentage points of improvement in the short term, preventing Dublin from winning a fifth All-Ireland title in a row this year is still a big ask.
The reigning champions are a well-oiled machine with highly experienced players on every line of the field who seem to have an insatiable appetite for success.
Finn admits there are quite a few similarities between this Dublin team and the all conquering Cork panel she joined in 2011 fresh from her Leaving Cert exams.
“Yeah, definitely,” she says. “In my first six years with Cork I won six All-Irelands and I was so lucky to be part of that team. Girls who just really, really wanted to win. In 2014 it really showed when we were 10 points down with 12 minutes to go and we brought it back and I think Dublin just have that never give up attitude.
“That's something we need to bring back again. Sometimes we panic a little bit when we go down or when the other team scores a goal and that's something that we really need to work on going forward, just to be able to relax and play our own game.”
Cork play Meath in the first round of the Group phase of the Championship on Saturday so they haven’t had much time to feel sorry for themselves after losing the League Final which suits Finn just fine.
“Yeah, definitely, I'm delighted,” she says. “As players we love just playing matches week after week and we've two Championship games now with Meath and Tipp and then hopefully a two-week break with the quarters two weeks after that.
“We're looking forward now to Meath next Saturday and we just love to be playing games every weekend so I'm delighted there's no much of a gap between League and Championship this year.”
