Ms Bríd Stack

It was in her local national school in Rockchapel, North Cork, under the guidance of her father, that Brid Stack developed her love for Gaelic football and education. Her devoted parents, Michael and Elizabeth, ensured her commitment to sport never waned. Time pressures or distance to training and matches were never entertained as excuses to deter commitment. Along with her older brother Seamus and younger sister Muireann, Bríd’s parents ensured that any commitment was total. This allowed Bríd to identify the importance of resilience, discipline and commitment to everything that she has done, and these principles are what has served her best in all facets of her life.

Bríd went for her first trial for the Cork U-14 team when she was 13 and played on every Cork underage team up until she captained the Cork minor team to All Ireland success in 2003. The idea of studying PE and Maths at the University of Limerick was well engrained from Transition year in St Joseph’s Secondary School in Abbeyfeale and the prospect of attending “a sporting college” was a huge draw.

Upon entering UL, Bríd immersed herself completely in all that college life had to offer, but sport and her education were always her number one focus. She was a first year student in the University of Limerick when she won her first Senior All Ireland medal as part of the very successful Cork Senior Ladies Football team. During her time in UL, Bríd won four Senior All Ireland medals in a row from 2004 to 2007, travelling up and down to Cork twice weekly. Bríd was also heavily involved in the administrative duties of the UL Ladies Football Club, as well as playing and captaining the team to O’Connor Cup success in 2007. Bríd won numerous colleges All Star awards during her time in UL. Following her graduation in 2008 with a 1.1 Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Education and Maths, Bríd landed her dream job, teaching PE and Maths at Carrigaline Community School.

Bríd also remained focused on her football career with Cork and in the space of twelve years from 2005 to 2016, the team won eleven Senior All Ireland titles. In that time, Bríd won 7 All Star awards, was named Munster Player of the Year in 2012 and was named Overall Ladies Football Player of the Year in 2016. Most significantly, the team was awarded RTE Team of the Year by public vote in 2014. After seventeen years of playing senior inter-county football for Cork, Bríd announced her retirement in January 2019.

Three years ago, together with her husband, Cárthach and two brothers-in-law, Bríd set up her own sports and health supplements company called MyCore Supplements. This venture has given Bríd a renewed energy and drive towards achieving success, albeit in a different avenue, but with the same principles instilled in her from her sporting career. Given the heavy work demands and the quick expansion of the Bishopstown-based business, Bríd decided to take a career break from teaching in 2018 to help develop MyCore further.

This year MyCore Supplements established themselves in the inter-county GAA scene, supplying numerous teams with their nutritional needs, none more so than All-Ireland senior hurling champions Tipperary. Next year, MyCore Supplements intends to branch more into the ladies games and ensure ladies teams, in football and camogie, are fuelled just as well as their male counterparts. Up to now, this has proven to be a real challenge, but Bríd hopes that given the vast improvement in our ladies games, through increased training demands and greater levels of professionalism, as well as the 20x20 movement, that this can be a real possibility for all players.

In 2019, Bríd became an analyst for RTE Sport in the areas of Gaelic football and ladies football across all media channels. She has worked heavily with the Ladies Football Association in the promotion of the game and is currently involved with their leadership programme in the area of PR.

At the start of October, Bríd and her husband Cárthach welcomed their first child, Cárthach Óg.  Another adventure begins!