CORK’S BID TO win a seventh consecutive All-Ireland ladies football title has received a further setback with confirmation that Briege Corkery won’t play in the 2017 championship.

Corkery didn’t feature during Cork’s league-winning campaign and manager Ephie Fitzgerald will have to do without the 30-year-old for the summer as his side look to retain the Brendan Martin Cup.

The loss of 11-time All-Ireland winner Corkery from the panel follows the decision of Rena Buckley to concentrate on camogie while Vera Foley has also made herself unavailable.

Without several members of last year’s All-Ireland winning team, Cork’s long run of reaching the Munster football final was broken on Saturday as Fitzgerald’s young side lost to Kerry in Killarney.

Speaking to Cork’s RedFM after the game, Fitzgerald admitted the young players will need time to find their feet.

“Yeah,” he replied, when asked if Corkery wouldn’t be returning this summer.

“Last year we were lucky as we only lost Valerie Mulcahy but when you lose four or five at one go it takes a bit of time to bed the others in.

“We only had six or seven of last year’s team playing yesterday [Saturday] and that’s a big turnover.”

Fitzgerald added that there is still plenty of talent in the panel and is confident the players will bounce back.

“That we were so close and could have won the game [against Kerry] is testament to how much talent we have but as I said we just need to get that bit more experience.

“I have to be happy with the commitment of the girls, their work rate is fantastic it’s just when you get into the championship the heat of the battle takes that little bit extra but we’ll learn from that.”

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