Six-time All-Ireland winner Orla Finn hangs up Cork boots

EXCLUSIVE BY KIERAN McCARTHY

SIX-TIME All-Ireland winner Orla Finn has retired from inter-county football.

The Kinsale sharpshooter (30) has confirmed to this week’s Star Sport Podcast that she is hanging up her inter-county boots after a terrific career with the Rebels.

The two-time All-Star forward (2016 and 2019) made her inter-county debut in 2011 and went on to win six All-Ireland titles and six Division 1 league crowns.

One of Cork’s best forwards of the past decade, Finn's last game turned out to be the county’s All-Ireland quarter-final loss (2-13 to 0-17) to Mayo last July – and she knew that was her last game for Cork.

‘Even last year when I was playing I had it in my head that it might be my last season playing so I tried to enjoy it as much as I could,’ Finn tells this week’s Star Sport Podcast.

‘I didn’t think last year would end the way it did but that’s what happened, and walking off the field after losing to Mayo I was trying to take it all in because in my head it was probably the last time I’d be wearing a Cork jersey.

‘It was a difficult decision too, though, and I gave it my all for the 12 years, and it will be such a change of lifestyle for me going forward, but I think I am ready to move on.'

Check out this long read on Orla Finn’s incredible rise to the top.