{"id":535109,"date":"2026-07-06T03:37:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T03:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/535109\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T03:37:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T03:37:13","slug":"carroll-its-heart-breaking-as-late-dublin-goals-end-all-ireland-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/535109\/","title":{"rendered":"Carroll: It’s heart breaking as late Dublin goals end All-Ireland dream"},"content":{"rendered":"

Manager Joe Carroll hailed his Cork side\u2019s performance despite a heart breaking one-point defeat to reigning champions Dublin in the TG4 All-Ireland Ladies Football Championship quarter-final, insisting there is a bright future ahead for the Rebels.<\/p>\n

Cork looked set to book their place in the semi-finals after producing one of their finest displays of the season, only for Dublin to strike for two goals in the space of a minute late on and snatch a dramatic 3-11 to 2-13 victory.<\/p>\n

The result was a cruel blow for a Cork side that had led by five points inside the closing stages and had matched, and often surpassed, the defending champions for long periods.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s heart breaking,\u201d Carroll admitted afterwards.<\/p>\n

\u201cOutstanding effort. Great football played, great scores kicked, but it didn\u2019t work out in the end and that\u2019s the way it happens sometimes.<\/p>\n

\"DublinDublin vs Cork: Cork’s Abigail Ring celebrates scoring her side\u2019s second goal<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought in the first 15 minutes of the second half in particular we were by far the better team and played the best football we played in my term of office. There are huge bright prospects in Cork ladies football and I\u2019m sure their day will come.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Dublin eventually found a way through, Carroll was full of praise for a number of his players, highlighting the influence of several experienced performers and emerging stars.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a lot of them playing well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaire O\u2019Callaghan was rolling back the years in the middle of the field. Melissa Duggan played very well and the forwards caused problems too. Leah Hallihan had a great game before she picked up an injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot to be proud of but it\u2019s hugely disappointing when you get that close and don\u2019t get the win.\u201d<\/p>\n

A major talking point came midway through the second half when Cork had a goal ruled out in controversial circumstances.<\/p>\n

Carroll felt the decision was difficult to understand, particularly as Cork were subsequently awarded a free.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe big turning point was the goal that was disallowed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt that stage we would have gone fairly substantially ahead and it would have been a massive blow to Dublin.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still don\u2019t understand why it was ruled out. If the goal is disallowed because you fouled the ball, then how do you get a free in afterwards? There\u2019s a contradiction there.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were a few other decisions as well that we would question, but that\u2019s not the reason we lost. We\u2019re just hugely disappointed for the players.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite that setback, Cork appeared to have one foot in the last four when substitute Abigail Ring found the net to open up a five-point advantage with less than 10 minutes remaining.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a decent lead,\u201d Carroll reflected.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they got the first goal I think we maybe panicked slightly. We probably should have slowed things down more and held possession better.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s easy to be wise after the event, but we took on a few chances when maybe we should have looked after the ball.<\/p>\n

\"DublinDublin vs Cork: Cork’s Leah Hallihan and Hannah Leahy of Dublin<\/p>\n

\u201cThe two goals were unfortunate, but these things happen. With the way the game is now, a five-point lead isn\u2019t really a five-point lead anymore. Scores can come very quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

While devastated by the manner of the defeat, Carroll believes there is plenty for Cork to build on after a campaign that also included Lidl National Football League success.<\/p>\n

Having overseen a period of transition following the departure of several established players, the manager pointed to an exciting conveyor belt of young talent coming through the county.<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall, you\u2019d still conclude with a positive note,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe won a national league title and that\u2019s not a bad return.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year\u2019s minors won an All-Ireland and a lot of those girls weren\u2019t available to us this year because of Leaving Cert commitments. A lot of them will come into contention next season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year\u2019s minors are in an All-Ireland semi-final as well. If you can get four or five players out of those groups coming through every year, Cork football will be back where it should be.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe future is looking very bright.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manager Joe Carroll hailed his Cork side\u2019s performance despite a heart breaking one-point defeat to reigning champions Dublin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":535110,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1964,61,60,112],"class_list":["post-535109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-cork-gaa","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=535109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/535110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}