THERE'S A term used in American Football to describe corner-backs who are so good at stifling attackers, it's almost impossible to score against them - they're known as 'shutdown corners'. It's a phrase that could have been coined for Claire O'Connor. Unlike most of her substantially beefier counterparts across the Atlantic, the uber-consistent O'Connor can not only stake a claim to the title, but also back it up with facts.

'I don't think anyone had scored on me this year,' said O'Connor. 'I had to wait until a practice match (the morning of the Intermediate semifinal) against a Junior team for an Antrim forward to come in and score two points on me. I wouldn't even mind, she was only a sub!

'Now, it was by order of deflection and all the rest of it, but still in my mind it was "well, nobody has scored on me, as far as I know, all year". Then for a Junior player to come on as sub and score two points in a practice match. I wasn't very impressed.'

Despite that game being a few weeks ago, that annoyance is something that is understandable to those who have seen the Rathnure club player in action.

Tenacious and feisty is probably an understatement for someone who makes up for her lack of size with added bite. Although she has proved she can take a score if the opportunity arises too, even if her side had already put 7-23 up against Dublin.

'My player had gone out as an extra midfielder, so I decided I'll avoid all the drama on the sideline of should I go or should I not, and just went with her. We got a sideline; I was standing there saying "oh my God, I'm up so far". Michelle (O'Leary) was taking the sideline and I just saw this big green space open up in front of me and I thought, right, I'm going.

'I started going "Michhhheeellllleeee" running up the field; it was kind of like what you would see in slow motion. The ball hopped over a Dublin girl's hurl and I just kept running, picked it up, soloed in and put it over the bar.

'Then all I could hear from the sideline was J.J (Doyle): "Claire, do you need oxygen, get back down to your position" so it was the absolute topic of mockery in the dressing-room after that I scored.'

When keeping her opponent scoreless, or indeed breaking forward to put her side 42 points ahead, you need your fellow defenders working as a team to help breathe confidence, and to be statistically the best defence in the game, that teamwork is something that Claire points to as being vital.

'You get the ball; doing it in the most unglamorous way and you feed it to somebody else who makes a great clearance or vice-versa.

'That combination play gives me a great lift because we worked together to get it out rather than, you know, just one big performance from one player. That's what it's all about - team play.'

Three years have passed since the last All-Ireland triumph and O'Connor feels that her cameo appearance the last time bears no comparison to what it will be like this year.

'I did myself proud with a good 60, maybe 120, seconds there (in 2007), and I do believe it was a time-wasting tactic, even though Avis Nolan had cramps for about ten minutes!

'I just missed the semi-final and the final, which was so disappointing.

'This year is totally different, I've been playing all year, and you think you've been putting in good performances back-to-back.

'I didn't touch the ball or make a sprint in 2007, so I can't really claim I played in Croke Park. I'll claim it after this final hopefully.'

- DEAN GOODISON Sports reporter