Cora Staunton on life with club and county

Shooting from the lip


Cora Staunton on life with club and county

Interview
Mike Finnerty

WHEN the eventful and colourful history of ladies football in Mayo is being written, one name, one word, will feature prominently.
Cora, the most recognisable (and arguably the best) ladies footballer in Ireland is known the length and breadth of the country by her first name. Her fame is matched only by her infamy, and her scoring exploits and achievements with Carnacon and Mayo means that her legend will endure long after she has togged in for the last time.
Retirement is the last thing on Cora Staunton’s agenda right now though. The 28 years-old breezed into a restaurant in Castlebar last week looking as fit and trim as ever, just ten days before her fifth All-Ireland club final with Carnacon.
It became obvious quickly that she was both happy and content; the satisfaction she gets from her job with the Mayo Traveller Support Group dovetailing nicely with a run of footballing form that is as good as any in her 15-year senior career with Carnacon.
The statistics speak for themselves. 12-60 in five games. Enough said.
However, it hasn’t been all plain sailing for Cora this year. A season that began with hopes and dreams of success with Mayo ended in nightmarish fashion for all concerned as the team failed to line out in the Connacht championship, and only put in a token appearance against Kerry in the All-Ireland series.
To make a very long story very short, the manager (Pat Costello) resigned, some club delegates voted to pull Mayo out of the championship, and the Mayo players (well, mainly Cora) were blamed in some quarters for causing all the problems.
The silence from the County Board’s top-table has been deafening but all will be revealed any day now when the independent report commissioned by Ladies GAA HQ in Dublin into last spring’s shennanigans is made public.
In the meantime, Cora Staunton has been doing what she does best. Leading Carnacon from the front to their eleventh successive Mayo SFC title, their tenth Connacht success in twelve seasons, and their fourth All-Ireland final appearance in five years.
Not to mention, giving straight answers to straight questions.

MF: What exactly happened with Mayo?
CS: A manager left us in April. The players were happy with him, we just wanted one or two other things done. We wanted him to have more help. One man can’t run a team, at club or county level. We wanted more, the manager took it up the wrong way, and from there on it turned into a bit of a circus.
At a County Board meeting certain delegates decided that the best thing for Mayo ladies football was to pull us out of the championship. If that happened, there would be no football in the county for twelve months. If that happened, Carnacon wouldn’t be where we are today.
It was a big mess with the County Board. Things need to be done right from the start of the year. A manager and his backroom team need to be in place in November or December, with a trainer, selectors, people who know the game. That hasn’t been done for a number of years.

MF: What would you like to see happening next year?
CS: The best-case scenario is that managers of every county team are put in place in November or December and given a two or three year term. They need to be helped build a team. This year the minor manager was put in a week before the championship started. That’s not good enough.
The right people have to get the jobs too, people who know ladies football and have the best interest of ladies football at heart. It’s a voluntary position and I think we should try and get somebody from inside the county if possible. If not, it needs to be somebody with ladies football experience.
Some people are saying, ‘it’s down to the players’. It’s not. The players just want to play.

MF: Some people seem to think that you want to run the show?
CS: I’ve enough on my plate, all I want to do is play football. I’ve been playing with Carnacon for years and I’ve never tried to run the show out there. I go, I train, I play. I’ve played under numerous managers and never had any interest in managing any of those teams.

MF: How are you playing at the moment?
CS: Hand on heart I feel I’m playing pretty well but, then again, you’re only as good as your last game. I’m lucky though that I’m playing well and the team are winning games.
I’m playing with very good players, the kind you hope you get to play with. I feel fit and fresh but my form is down to all the girls I’m playing with too. I hope to have a good final but, if I don’t, then you’ll have people wondering if it’s time for me to hang up my boots. You’re always judged on your last game.

MF: How do you reinvent yourself every year?
CS: I don’t think too much about it, it seems to come naturally. I would watch the likes of ‘The Gooch’ but it’s not something I’d practice at training. I would work on my kick-passing, hand-passing and shooting, but the side-steps and dummies just happen.

MF:Are you more of a team player now than you used to be?
CS: As you get older, your game changes. Some people would feel that I’m greedy and getting the majority of the scores. I think that’s because I’m the free-taker and, when the pressure comes on in a game, people have a tendency to pass the ball to me. Plus, if I’m close to goal, I’ll instinctively try and shoot.
But we’re working hugely as a team. I’m a team player. The best forwards in the country are always going to be a bit greedy anyway.

MF: What keeps you motivated?
CS: It’s that will to get keep winning, to keep Carnacon where they are. We’ve put so much work in to keep Carnacon up at the top. Some girls are hoping to win their first All-Ireland and we want to help them do that.

MF: How will you prepare for next Sunday?
CS: I’d visualise a lot of things that I want to do; score a goal, a point, or lay off a ball.
In terms of verbals, or getting stick, I love that. That only drives me on more. The worst thing any team could do is get my temper up.
Against Timahoe, every pass I gave away, or every wide I kicked, was cheered. That only made me more determined. I’m getting it for ten or twelve years now and it can be bad, but it’s coming mostly from opposition supporters.

MF: What would it mean to win this All-Ireland?
CS: After last year’s defeat, and what happened in Mayo this year, this would be a great one to win. Last year has brought this Carnacon group together. We’re like one, big family, along with Jimmy [Corbett] and Beatrice [Casey] who have put in so much hard work.
When you’re in a final, you want to win it.

5 quick questions
Last Film Watched
Due Date. “I’d give it four stars.”

Favourite Recent Song
Bruno Mars, ‘Just The Way You Are’.

Dressing-Room Song
Pink, ‘Just Like A Pill’.

Ones To Watch
Sarah Rowe, Aileen Gilroy, Doireann Hughes.

3 Most Prized Possessions
A picture of my mother, my mobile, my I-Pod.