Cora Staunton

Cora Staunton (born 13 December 1981) is an Irish sportswoman. She is best known as a ladies' Gaelic footballer, winning four All-Irelands and three Ladies' National Football League titles with Mayo. She has also been an All Star on eleven occasions. In addition to playing Gaelic football, Staunton has also played three other football codes at a senior level. In 2006, as an association footballer, she won an FAI Women's Cup winner's medal with the Mayo Ladies' League representative team. In 2013, she began playing rugby union for Castlebar Ladies in the Connacht Women's League. In she 2018 made her Australian rules football debut in the AFLW competition for the Greater Western Sydney Giants, establishing herself by 2022 as one of the league's all-time great goalkickers. She has also played for the Ireland women's international rules football team. Staunton works as a HSE liaison officer, working with women from the Irish Travellers community.

In 2018, Staunton released her autobiography called Game Changer; it was named as the 2018 Bord Gáis Energy Sports Book of the Year.

Early life Staunton was raised in Carnacon, County Mayo. Her father was a farmer and her mother worked in the catering department of a local hospital. She has four brothers and three sisters and is the second youngest amongst her siblings. In 1995, her mother, Mary, was diagnosed with cancer. She died on 11 July 1998 when Staunton was 16.

Association football Staunton played association football for Ballyglass Ladies in the Mayo Ladies League. As a youth she was invited to trials for the Republic of Ireland U–16s but she declined, preferring to concentrate on Gaelic football. As a result of winning the 2006 FAI Women's Cup, the Mayo Ladies League qualified to represent the Republic of Ireland in the 2007–08 UEFA Women's Cup. The competition format saw the team travel to Austria in August 2007 to play in a mini-tournament to decide who would progress to the next round. Unfortunately the UEFA Women's Cup tournament clashed with a 2007 All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship quarter-final game against Monaghan. In the opening game of the tournament, Staunton scored for Mayo in a 4–1 defeat to Gol Częstochowa. However, she then returned to Ireland, along with Yvonne Byrne and Aoife Herbert, to line-up against Monaghan. While playing with Ballyglass Ladies, Staunton also won the 2011 WFAI Intermediate Cup.

International rules football Staunton was a member of the Ireland women's international rules football team that played against Australia in the 2006 Ladies' International Rules Series.

Rugby union In September 2013 Staunton made her rugby union debut for Castlebar Ladies in a Connacht Women's League game against Tuam. She subsequently scored seven tries in a 68–15 win. She also went onto captain Castlebar to the league title.

Australian rules football

Staunton's decision to play Australian rules football came after a conversation with her compatriot Nick Walsh, an assistant coach at the Greater Western Sydney Giants. She was drafted by the Giants in the 2017 AFL Women's draft and was the first international player to be signed to an AFL Women's list.

In 2018 Staunton returned to Ireland to play for Mayo county during which time she was selected in the Ireland Banshees squad for the Euro Cup 9-a-side Australian rules tournament at Cork.

On 28 August 2022, she scored three goals in Greater Western Sydney's defeat to Western Bulldogs, a tally that included her 50th goal in the league, with only Darcy Vescio ahead of her.

In March 2023, Staunton retired from Australian rules football.

Statistics

50 55 43 307 148 455 96 106 1.1 0.9 6.1 3.0 9.1 1.9 2.1 Honours Gaelic football Individual Ladies' Gaelic football All Stars Awards Winner: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017: 11

Mayo All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship Winner: 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 : 4 Runners-up: 2001, 2007, 2017: 3 Ladies' National Football League Winners: 2000, 2004, 2007: 3 Runners-up: 2016

Carnacon All-Ireland Ladies Club Football Championship Winner: 2002, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2017: 6 Runners-up: 2006, 2010, 2012: 3

Association football Mayo FAI Women's Cup Winner: 2006: 1

Ballyglass Ladies WFAI Intermediate Cup Winners: 2011: 1

Rugby union Castlebar Ladies Connacht Women's League Winners: 2013: 1

Hanwell Mens Middlesex Merit Table Bowl Winners: 2023: 1