As the Carnacon players travelled to Parnell Park on Sunday, Fiona MacHale said that she and her teammates recognised the perfect goodbye which winning a sixth All-Ireland title would be for Cora Staunton.
The 35-year-old leaves for Australia on Tuesday to start her career in AFL with the Great Western Sydney Giants. Indeed, she will depart with that sixth All-Ireland medal in her collection. Carnacon won by two points against Mourneabbey on Sunday with Staunton contributing seven points, four of those from play.
"They're all sweet. Obviously, the older you get, the sweeter they are - you know that there's not too many more left," Staunton told Jerome Quinn after the game.
Staunton said that it was a particularly memorable moment for many of the younger players on the team who had not experienced an All-Ireland victory before. Carnacon's last All-Ireland title was won four years ago.
I can finally go. Thank God it wasn't a replay. It's a great way to go to Australia. A new chapter in your life starts in a couple of days time.
I'll try to enjoy tonight and enjoy tomorrow at home, then I head off to Australia on Tuesday evening. I arrive over there on Thursday morning and probably into pre-season on Thursday evening. It's obviously going to be difficult for me with my body and stuff to pick up the game. It's a huge four months for me. It's going to be a huge challenge for me physically.
Today is not about me, it's not about Australian rules, it's not about anything else - it's about Carnacon and it's about the girls and us winning our sixth All-Ireland title. As a young girl growing up and like many of them here, we didn't expect that we'd ever win it this much.
Video: Jerome Quinn
