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Ephie Fitzgerald resigns as Cork Ladies bow out of All-Ireland

The Cork Ladies Football manager Ephie Fitzgerald has stepped down after four years in charge.  ...



Ephie Fitzgerald resigns as Co...
Football

Ephie Fitzgerald resigns as Cork Ladies bow out of All-Ireland

The Cork Ladies Football manager Ephie Fitzgerald has stepped down after four years in charge. 

The Rebels were beaten by three-in-a-row chasing Dublin in the All-Ireland semi-final at Croke Park on Sunday afternoon.

Two crucial second-half Dublin goals from Caoimhe O'Connor and Sinead Aherne saw it finish up 2-11 to 11 points.

Fitzgerald guided Cork to their 11th All-Ireland during his first year in charge in 2016 and to the final again last year where they lost to Dublin by five points.

The Nemo Rangers clubman was frustrated by a number of calls made during Sunday's game at full-time as he announced his resignation.

"I will be stepping down after this. I've four years done so I think it's time for a new voice.

"Ciara O'Sullivan was sent off. That's the third time in three matches.

"She doesn't know herself what she went for, stuff like that.

"The tackle needs to be defined.

"That's not taking from Dublin's victory - they fully deserved it on the day but the tackle needs to be defined.

"The LGFA going forward are wasting their time because we don't know what a tick is, we don't know when they're being ticked, every foul is a tick? We don't know."

"I have four years done, I said I'd give it one more year. There's a young squad there. I've family at home that I probably haven't given as much time to over the last number of years that I should be doing.

"There's a lot of factors, there's a lot of things I want to focus on going forward.

"The result today had nothing to do with me stepping down, that was a decision I had made a while back.

When asked if he felt there was an All-Ireland in this Cork side he was positive about the possibility of the Rebels enjoying ultimate success again.

"It's a building process, there's certainly young players there.

"In terms of conditioning and that you can see how strong the Dublin girls are there today.

"That's a level you want to get after a number of years. They've an awful lot of work done. That shows out there.

"They're able to put in a strong performance for the 60 minutes whereas we probably flagged a little bit towards the finish.

"That said it's a learning curve for our girls at the end of the day there's not a whole lot between the two teams.

"Probably another year or two, maybe find one or two more players and hopefully some of the older girls will stay on, I think there's a future there for Cork."

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