Máire O'Callaghan: Cork v Meath again would be 'extra sweet'

It's 2016 since Cork were last crowned TG4 All-Ireland senior football champions. That victory was an 11th success in 12 years for the Rebel County.

Under the late Eamon Ryan and then Ephie Fitzgerald, the side were masters of all they surveyed; totally dominant. Six years on and Cork are keen to dine at the top table again. On Sunday next, they begin their 2022 campaign against Waterford in the Munster semi-final. For Cork skipper Máire O'Callaghan, preparations have gone well since the conclusion of the league, a competition where the Munster did not pull up too many trees.

"Look, it wasn't a great league campaign for us at all," she said. Then again the spring campaign wasn't the be-all and end-all for the Munster outfit, as O'Callaghan explained: "I suppose we were never starting the year off too focused on the league.

"The league is always a good time to try new players and new positions and things like that, so that was always what we wanted to get out of the league. While we did crash out a bit sooner than we were hoping, I still think we were probably a bit unlucky with the group we got, the two All-Ireland finalists (Meath and Dublin) away in the first two games, so it was always going to be a tough start for us.

"We weren't aiming too hard to get to a league final, we've got to the latter stages of it before and it hasn't really benefited us that much in the championship. It's great to get competitive games, I know, but we've got six weeks of really good training together as well, which has been fantastic, so we can't really complain about the preparation we've had."

Last year Cork lost out to eventual All-Ireland winner Meath at the last-four stage. Leading by seven points with five minutes left of normal time, the