In a bid to retain an All-Ireland crown and claim just your second-ever title at senior level, what better way to improve those chances than to add a four-time All-Ireland winner and four-time All-Star?
That is what All-Ireland champions Mourneabbey did this year when Dublin's Noelle Healy joined the club. Healy, who is in training to become an anesthesiologist, moved to Cork for work this year.
"I think she's just slotted in seamlessly," said Eimear Meaney, an opponent of Healy's at inter-county level and now a teammate in the club game.
"Obviously she knew a few of the girls from All-Star trips and we knew her from playing around the pitch. She's slotted in perfectly, she's just added a new dimension to the team this year, I suppose.
"I'm usually cursing her pace running after her but now I'm delighted, I'm like, 'Give her the ball and go!' It's nice to have her on your side for once. She's an unbelievable player and she's a really lovely girl.
"She's just slotted in perfectly with our team. She's had some massive performances for us this year, she's really added to it."
At the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick on Saturday evening, Mourneabbey will look to retain the All-Ireland title which they won for the first time last December with victory over Dublin side Foxrock-Cabinteely. Galway and Connacht champions Kilkerrin/Clonberne are the ones standing in their way on this occasion.
Mourneabbey go into battle without Cathy Ann Stack, their fullback of so many years who has retired.
"Filling Cathy Anne’s boots would be a big ask to any player at our club," said Mourneabbey selector Derry Collins.
"Such a presence in the dressing room, such a calming influence on younger players for a good number of years, that you would be concerned, ‘How do we fill this?’
"To have an established player like Noelle to come in has been great, it has filled a void in our dressing room, which I think would have been almost impossible to fill.
"The community have taken to her, she’s one of our own now, it’s great to have her on board in a football sense. The young girls are looking up to her and they can buy in, she’s a great athlete.
"She would have known a number of our girls from the inter-county scene anyway but yeah, we're delighted to have her and please God we’ll have her for a long time to come. Look, she’s one of our own. She even has a Cork accent at this stage!"
Mourneabbey play Kilkerrin/Cloberne in the All-Ireland Senior Ladies Club Football Championship final at the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick at 5pm on Saturday, November 23rd. The game will be shown live on TG4.
Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
