Cora Staunton admits to a twinge of jealousy when she looks at the current state of Irish women’s sport.

The 11-time All-Star winner was picking up another award on Friday as she won the Outstanding Contribution to Sport from The Irish Times.

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Staunton, who has four All-Ireland titles for Mayo along with six All-Ireland club medals, was also the first overseas player in the Women’s Australian Football League, spending six years with Great Western Sydney Giants before retiring in 2023.

The Mayo star is one of the most accomplished sports woman the country has ever produced and a genuine trailblazer for those who came after her.

Staunton, who now serves as the Gaelic Players Association vice-president, helped put in place many of the structures that are now being enjoyed by the next generation of female GAA stars and while she’s proud of her accomplishments, she admits to a little jealousy.

“I think you can look at it and you can be a little bit jealous and envious of it but at the same time you can be really, you know, honoured to look at it and go, ‘you know if this is where it was when I started…’,” Staunton told RTÉ Radio 1’s Inside Sport.

“I think to myself, ‘you were a part of the journey and made it to where it is now’. I still think there’s growth. I think in any sport there’s room for growth and I think there’s things that we need to get better at.

“I’ll always be the one banging the drum and advocating that female sports stars here in Ireland are looked after better. I do that in my role with the GPA but it’s really important.

“We have a lot of girls in Australia which is brilliant as well but we need our players playing Ladies Gaelic football, so I’ll always advocate for female sport no matter what it is.”

“Since Mary McAleese came in and started the integration process I think it’s been successful.”

Staunton remains hopeful that the Steering Group on Integration (SGI), chaired by former president Mary McAleese, will be able to see through the merger of LGFA, GAA, and Camogie Association.

The SGI continue to believe that a target date of 2027 for integration is “realisable target” and Staunton is optimistic that target can be met.

“It’s hugely important,” she said of integration. “It’s a drum that we’ve been banging, me in particular for the last 15 or 20 years, and you can get tired of banging it. But since Mary McAleese came in and started the integration process I think it’s been successful.

“It looks probably a little bit fluffy at the moment and I think there’s a lot of work to be done in 2026.

“It will be interesting to see in terms of the roadshows and how clubs in particular are going to come together. With clubs that aren’t really together at the moment and how it’ll work for female footballers.

“There are struggles, you hear stories of lights being turned off at county finals in different counties or the dual player issue, whatever it might be. There are still struggles and we’re not going to hide away from it, but you’d hope that integration will in some way sort a lot of the problems out.

“It’s for people to make what could be difficult decisions but at the same time brave decisions and the right decisions.”