The Rebels had thousands of euro worth of personal belongings stolen from their dressing-room in Manchester.

The Leesiders qualified for an All-Ireland junior football championship final date with Kildare by virtue of a six-point victory over Lancashire but the win came at a big price as members of the travelling party were fleeced of precious personal items including cash, iPhones, wallets, clothes and jewellery - with an estimated value of €3,000.

Greater Manchester Metropolitan Police are investigating the robbery which occurred at the Old Bedian's Grounds in the Manchester suburb of Didsbury on Sunday.

Cork manager Paul McCarthy told The Irish Examiner: "It has left a bitter taste in the mouth after a great weekend for us and Cork GAA. We had a top class weekend and really had great craic with us winning, the hurlers winning and it was almost a bonding trip for us in one sense, but when we discovered we had been broken into, it took the shine off it to.

"The dressing rooms were locked when we went out onto the pitch the first time but we don't know if they were locked after we went onto the pitch for the second half, but the Lancashire dressing rooms were locked.

"The pitch where we played on then was a bit away from the dressing rooms so we wouldn't have been able to keep an eye on them, there were lots of people around, there was some other few pitches with games and things going on there but you just don't expect this kind of thing to happen." Tweet

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