 Staunton playing Australian rules football withGreater Western Sydney in February 2018 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Ladies' Gaelic football | ||
| Position | Forward | ||
| Born | (1981-12-13)13 December 1981 (age 43) | ||
| Height | 172 cm (5 ft 8 in) | ||
| Occupation | HSE Liaison Officer | ||
| Club(s) | |||
| Years | Club | ||
| Carnacon | |||
| Inter-county(ies) | |||
| Years | County | Apps (scores) | |
1995–2018 | Mayo | 66 (59:476) | |
| Inter-county titles | |||
| All-Irelands | 4 | ||
| All Stars | 11 | ||
Cora Staunton (born 13 December 1981) is an Irishsportswoman. She is best known as aladies' Gaelic footballer, winning fourAll-Irelands and threeLadies' National Football League titles withMayo. She has also been anAll 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 anassociation footballer, she won anFAI Women's Cup winner's medal with theMayo Ladies' League representative team. In 2013, she began playingrugby union for Castlebar Ladies in the Connacht Women's League. In she 2018 made herAustralian rules football debut in theAFLW competition for theGreater Western Sydney Giants, establishing herself by 2022 as one of the league'sall-time great goalkickers. She has also played for theIreland women's international rules football team. Staunton works as aHSE liaison officer, working with women from theIrish Travellers community.[1][2][3][4]
In 2018, Staunton released her autobiography calledGame Changer; it was named as the2018 Bord Gáis Energy Sports Book of the Year.[5]
Staunton was raised inCarnacon,County Mayo.[6] 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.[7][8][4]
Staunton began playingGaelic football at the age of seven in her local school inCarnacon. She later played with boys' teams in nearbyBallinrobe. Among her earliest team mates wasAlan Dillon. Staunton made her debut at senior level for theMayo county ladies' football team in 1995 aged just 13. She made her first appearance in anAll-Ireland final in1999. However, she played just 90 seconds of the game because she had broken her collarbone in training a week before the final. The team elected to start her anyway, as a ceremonial gesture. She made her second All-Ireland appearance in2000, scoring 2:2 as Mayo defeatedWaterford. Staunton's third All-Ireland appearance in2001 ended in disappointment after a mix-up over a last minute kick-out saw Mayo lose by a single point toLaois. However Staunton and Mayo then won two successive All-Irelands in2002 and2003. Staunton played in a sixth All-Ireland in2007.Staunton has also won sixAll-Ireland Ladies Club Football Championships with her club, Carnacon.[1][8][4][9]
Staunton playsassociation football for Ballyglass Ladies in theMayo Ladies League. As a youth she was invited to trials for theRepublic of Ireland U–16s but she declined, preferring to concentrate on Gaelic football.[7] However, she continued to play association football at club level. In 2006, she was a member of the Mayo Ladies League representative team that won theFAI Women's Cup, defeatingUCD 1–0 in the final atRichmond Park. Staunton was just one of several members of the Mayo Ladies League representative team who also playedLadies Gaelic football forMayo. Others included Yvonne Byrne, Aoife Herbert, Michelle Ruane, Martha Carter, Triona McNicholas andEmma Mullin.[10][11][12] As a result of winning the 2006 FAI Women's Cup, the Mayo Ladies League qualified to represent theRepublic of Ireland in the2007–08 UEFA Women's Cup. The competition format saw the team travel toAustria in August 2007 to play in a mini-tournament to decide who would progress to the next round.[13] Unfortunately the UEFA Women's Cup tournament clashed with a 2007All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship quarter-final game againstMonaghan. In the opening game of the tournament, Staunton scored for Mayo in a 4–1 defeat toGol Częstochowa. However, she then returned to Ireland, along with Yvonne Byrne and Aoife Herbert, to line-up against Monaghan.[14][15][16] While playing with Ballyglass Ladies, Staunton also won the 2011WFAI Intermediate Cup.[17]
Staunton was a member of theIreland women's international rules football team that played againstAustralia in the2006 Ladies' International Rules Series.[18][19][20]
In September 2013 Staunton made herrugby union debut for Castlebar Ladies in a Connacht Women's League game against Tuam. She subsequently scored seven tries in a 68–15 win.[21] She also went onto captain Castlebar to the league title.[22]
| Cora Staunton | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||
| Date of birth | (1981-12-13)13 December 1981 (age 43) | ||
| Original team(s) | Greater Western Sydney | ||
| Debut | Round 1, 2018,Greater Western Sydney vs.Melbourne, atCasey Fields | ||
| Height | 172 cm (5 ft 8 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Forward | ||
| Playing career1 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
| 2018–2022 (S7) | Greater Western Sydney | 50 (55) | |
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2022 season 7. | |||
| Career highlights | |||
| |||
| Source:AustralianFootball.com | |||
Staunton's decision to playAustralian rules football came after a conversation with her compatriot Nick Walsh, an assistant coach at theGreater Western Sydney Giants.[23] She was drafted by the Giants in the2017 AFL Women's draft and was the first international player to be signed to anAFL Women's list.[24][25]
In 2018 Staunton returned to Ireland to play for Mayo county during which time she was selected in theIreland Banshees squad for theEuro Cup 9-a-side Australian rules tournament atCork.[26]
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 onlyDarcy Vescio ahead of her.[27]
In March 2023, Staunton retired from Australian rules football.[28]
G | Goals | K | Kicks | D | Disposals | T | Tackles |
B | Behinds | H | Handballs | M | Marks |
| Season | Team | No. | Games | Totals | Averages (per game) | Votes | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | B | K | H | D | M | T | G | B | K | H | D | M | T | |||||
| 2018 | Greater Western Sydney | 13 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 39 | 18 | 57 | 13 | 14 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 5.6 | 2.6 | 8.1 | 1.9 | 2.0 | 0 |
| 2019 | Greater Western Sydney | 13 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 65 | 31 | 96 | 19 | 24 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 9.3 | 4.4 | 13.7 | 2.7 | 3.4 | 6 |
| 2020 | Greater Western Sydney | 13 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 51 | 12 | 63 | 14 | 12 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 7.3 | 1.7 | 9.0 | 2.0 | 1.7 | 6 |
| 2021 | Greater Western Sydney | 13 | 9 | 10 | 10† | 64 | 29 | 93 | 18 | 18 | 1.1 | 1.1§ | 7.1 | 3.2 | 10.3 | 2.0 | 2.0 | |
| 2022 (S6) | Greater Western Sydney | 13 | 10 | 18 | 9 | 50 | 25 | 75 | 19 | 17 | 1.8 | 0.9 | 5.0 | 2.5 | 7.6 | 1.9 | 1.7 | |
| 2022 (S7) | Greater Western Sydney | 13 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 38 | 33 | 71 | 13 | 21 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 3.8 | 3.3 | 7.1 | 1.3 | 2.1 | |
| Career[29] | 50 | 55 | 43 | 307 | 148 | 455 | 96 | 106 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 6.1 | 3.0 | 9.1 | 1.9 | 2.1 | |||
