Cork ladies to confirm new kit deal worth up to €60,000

BY JACKIE CAHILL

ALL-Ireland ladies senior football champions Cork have sealed a lucrative new kit deal, believed to be worth up to €60,000 over the next three years. 

The Rebelettes will be wearing jerseys manufactured by Armagh-based McKeever Sports for Saturday’s TG4 Munster championship opener against Waterford in Fermoy.

The new kit is only available via the McKeever Sports parent company, thegaastore.com, and as part of the new arrangement, Adidas will supply the Cork players with training gear and leisurewear.

Cork have won the TG4 All-Ireland senior crown in ten of the last eleven seasons and last Saturday, they claimed a fourth successive Lidl National League Division 1 crown.

Cork’s minors lined out in the new McKeever kit during their recent Munster final victory over Kerry, and the U16s have been wearing Adidas leisurewear as negotiations between both parties reached a successful conclusion. 

Cork’s senior team wore O’Neill’s jerseys during their recent march to League glory and have also been supplied by Kukri sports in recent times.

But thegaastore.com is now the leading supplier of Adidas team-wear in Ireland and the company boasts a particularly close affiliation with Cork, having supplied the men’s senior team with training and leisurewear for their recent training camp in Portugal, as well as boots for the players.

In recent weeks, thegaastore.com secured a ladies football kit licence and the company has managed to secure the most successful team in the recent history of ladies football.

The Cork agreement is a major statement of intent and company sources have indicated that they will actively pursue deals with other top county teams, in an attempt to gain a firm foothold in a highly-competitive market.

It is believed that the new kit will be officially launched in Cork later this week, in time for Saturday’s clash with newly-crowned National Football League Division 3 champions Waterford.