CORK CAPTAIN MARTINA O\u2019Brien says she feels her side is closing in on four-in-a-row All-Ireland winners Dublin, as the sides prepare to face off in the Division 1 final.<\/p>\n
The sides have already met in this year\u2019s league campaign, serving up a thrilling spectacle which Dublin edged by 3-15 to 4-11. The decider on Saturday evening will see the old rivals battle it out for silverware once again, with Cork effectively going in as reigning champions from 2019 after last year\u2019s final could not be played due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n
Dublin are chasing just their second top tier crown in the league this weekend, but it is their recent record in the championship which puts them at the summit of Ladies football.<\/p>\n
They defeated Cork in the 2018 and 2020 All-Ireland finals, while also getting the better of Ephie Fitzgerald\u2019s side in the 2019 semi-final. But O\u2019Brien is confident that the gap is closing on the Leinster outfit.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019d like to think it is. We didn\u2019t expect that game to be such a spectacle, it was end-to-end stuff. We hope it\u2019s closing. We\u2019re trying to win things, win leagues and championships. Dublin are standing in everyone\u2019s way.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe feel like we\u2019ve progressed over the last couple of years and are hoping to bridge that gap this year but we won\u2019t know if we\u2019ve done it until we\u2019ve beaten them\u2026 no team will know that until they\u2019ve beaten Dublin.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cSince then we\u2019ve done more training and worked on things. We just hope we can bring that extra little bit on Saturday that might get us over the line.\u201d<\/p>\n
Referring back to the era of Cork\u2019s dominance which yielded 11 All-Ireland crowns in 12 years, O\u2019Brien adds:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have lost to Dublin the last couple of years and it is obviously going to be one of those things where you are like, just to beat them could be a good thing. We have beaten them in the league. We have beaten them along the way, just not in the important matches.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut look, you could flip it the other way, Dublin have experienced a couple of years ago against Cork what we are experiencing now. It is roles reversed. We are getting a bit used of that kind of treatment now.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are always thinking about ourselves and who are we playing next, it is never a looking forward thing to we are going to be playing this crowd in the All-Ireland final. We are just playing to the next game.\u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Brien also explained that Cork are unlikely to have the services of key forward Doireann O\u2019Sullivan for the game against Dublin as she is still recovering from a knee injury.<\/p>\n
Remarking on the kind of game that might unfold on Saturday, O\u2019Brien suspects it won\u2019t be a repeat of the high-scoring battle they played out last month.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t imagine it will be as loose as it was the last day \u2013 we\u2019ll both want to have tightened up \u2013 and won\u2019t want to be leaking goals again.<\/p>\n