Women's Football All-Ireland Senior Final/Cork 2-11 Mayo 2-6: Cork's year of grief on All-Ireland final days this season came to a welcome end in the most convincing manner at the expense of late-late scorers Mayo in the Women' All-Ireland football decider at Croke Park yesterday.

The old sporting cliché which says "forget that scoreline" to reflect a one-sided match was very much the reality in this instance.

Mayo, struggling against the prolific and cohesive performance of the Cork girls for almost the entire match, suddenly came to life with two stunning goals in the last minute of play.

The match had been decided by this stage but the contributions by Cora Staunton and Fiona McHale with those goals at the death was quite a defining feature of an otherwise predictable encounter that lacked the edge of a real contest.

Mayo supporters in the 21,237 crowd had every reason to believe that had their side started the way they finished it might well have been a different story.

There was no doubting Cork's aim as they set out their stall from the start, chalking up five points without reply.

The Mayo team, and especially the well policed Staunton, were visibly undermined even at this early stage and it took the western champions until well into the second quarter before they opened their account.

Cork were full value for their 1-6 to 0-3 lead at half-time.

They had been struck what seemed a serious blow before the start with the enforced withdrawal of Mary O'Connor from their attack.

However, her replacement, Amanda Murphy, had her best game so far in the Cork shirt scoring three magnificent points to inspire her team and reassure her colleagues.

Valerie Mulcahy, a soccer player in her spare time, left her fingerprints on this exciting victory.

When Down referee Eugene O'Hara pointed to the spot close to half-time Mulcahy stepped up to take a penalty that left Yvonne Byrne in the Mayo goal stranded. The quality of the shot was truly an inspiration to Cork and their satisfaction with the first half hour beamed from their faces as they made their way to the half-time dressingroom.

Mulcahy, however, was not finished dishing out punishment to the Mayo defence for the game had hardly restarted when she broke lose again to hammer the ball past a disillusioned Byrne to put the Rebels firmly in the driving seat.

The match as a contest virtually ended there and then.

Mayo's fate was not only sealed by Mulcahy's double whammy but their own star player, Staunton, was well held as never before by well contrived tactics which not only saw one player mark her but at times even three Cork defenders.

Eamonn Ryan, the Cork coach, explained how receptive his team is on the coaching field. "They are like 10-year-olds listening to their instructions and from my standpoint it is very easy to work with them."

Perhaps, unlike Ireland's rugby team, the Cork defence showed excellent discipline in not conceding too many frees. Indeed, in the first half they only gave four free kicks away.

Ryan said he was pleased to see the girls hit the ground running but added: "We did not plan to try and blitz them from the start but it happened that way to an extent, although we were well prepared to soak up any pressure they were to throw at us and take it from there."

The Cork defence took a tight grip on the game from the word go and paid particular notice to Mayo's danger woman Staunton. Bríd Stack was specifically assigned to police the Mayo star and she did a terrific job, assisted by colleagues such as Rena Buckley and the Walshes in a solid full-back line.

Another hero of that Cork defence was Bríd Corkery.

Juliette Murphy put in an outstanding game in midfield and Deirdre O'Reilly's versatility as an attacker and helper in midfield was another notable feature of this comprehensive Cork victory.

The Mayo defence was under quite enormous pressure for virtually the entire game and never looked like containing the sharp movements deployed by a star-studded Cork attack.

In the circumstances, Mayo's league final victory over Cork was very much consigned to the history books. Indeed, should this Cork team stay together under the same management and coaching system they may well win four-in-row next season.

CORK: E Harte, C Walsh, A Walsh, Rena Buckley. L Barrett, B Stack, B Corkery, J Murphy (0-1), N Kelly, G O'Flynn (0-2), L McMahon, N Cleary (0-2), V Mulcahy (2-1) A Murphy (0-3), D O'Reilly (0-2), Subs: Rhona Buckley for Kelly; M O'Shea for Cleary; S O'Reilly for Barrett.

MAYO: Y Byrne, S McGing, H Lohan, N O'Shea, M Hefferenan, M Carter, C McGing (0-1), C Egan, C O'Hara, F McHale (1-0), C Staunton (1-2), M McDermott, A Hebert, C Heffernan, D O'Hora (0-2, two frees) Subs: J Moran for McDermott, L Cafferky (0-1) for Herbert, M Kelly for O'Shea.

Referee: E O'Hara (Down).