By Kevin Egan
Tipperary edging out 2023 All-Ireland finalists Waterford was the big story of the day in the Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship, as the League champions got their Summer campaign out to a dream start with a 1-19 to 2-13 victory in their Munster derby played at The Ragg.
As expected, this was a tight affair throughout. At half-time Waterford led by 1-7 to 1-5 thanks to a Mairead O’Brien goal and an impressive five-point haul from Beth Carton, with Lorraine Bray and Sarah Lacey also on target for the Déise. Tipperary found the net through player of the match, Clodagh McIntyre, but were put under more pressure when O’Brien scored her second goal to push Waterford further in front.
Mary Burke came close to a goal before popping it over the bar for Tipp to make it 1-11 to 2-11, and that left the Premier County close enough to take advantage of a red card for Waterford’s Keeley Corbett Barry with less than ten minutes left. Tipp then powered on with the stronger finish, shooting five of the next six points to seize control.
Páirc Uí Rinn played host to Cork’s opening defence of their All-Ireland title, and where they ran out 1-15 to 1-6 winners over Wexford. As the rain lashed, Katrina Mackey and Amy O’Connor provide powerful performances for the home side.
O’Connor got the game’s first score from a dead ball inside the opening minute. After further scores from O’Connor, Mackey and Saoirse McCarthy, Wexford finally got off the mark thanks to a strike from Shelley Kehoe, but Cork’s momentum continued and the home side went in 0-8 to 0-2 up as the referee blew for half-time.
Early in the second half, Ciara O’Connor converted a penalty she had won herself to give her Wexford charges a real shot in the arm, but while they were competitive throughout, Cork always had an element of control. Seven minutes into injury time, Clodagh Finn’s green flag put the final exclamation point on their win.
It was even more straightforward for Kilkenny as they eased past Limerick by 1-19 to 0-4 at Mick Neville Park, Rathkeale.
After Aoife Doyle’s opening score from play, the Cats went on to gather a 0-6 to 0-0 lead inside a low-scoring first 25 minutes, with Miriam Bambrick, Aoife Prendergast, Katie Nolan, Miriam Walsh and Julianne Malone all on the scoresheet.
Limerick’s Caoimhe Costelloe got her side off the mark on 30 minutes before adding their second two minutes later. These came either side of an Aoife Doyle double for the visitors.
Leading 0-10 to 0-2 at half-time, Kilkenny kicked on in the second half. Fifteen minutes into the second half, Steffi Fitzgerald scored the game’s first goal to make it 1-13 to 0-3, and it was plain sailing from there.
In the early stages of the meeting of Clare and Down in Ennis, it looked like Clare might be pushed to the wire by the visitors. Down were up by four points up within 22 minutes thanks to a goal from Ciara Fitzsimmons against the run of play.
For Clare, Áine O’Loughlin got a goal back putting them up by two going into the break, where score stood at 1-6 to 1-4. After the restart in Ennis, the home side really pushed on. They shut up shop, keeping Down to a single second half point before running out 1-14 to 1-5 winners.
Róisín Begley impressed for the Banner with a hat-trick of points which was then followed by scores for Laura Foley, Zi Yan Spillane and Caoimhe Carmody.
Derry came away from Cushendall on Saturday with a relatively straightforward 3-17 to 2-10 win against Antrim, having already held a double figure lead by half-time. Aoife Shaw was on fire in the early stages notching 1-1 to kickstart Derry’s day. These scores sandwiched points from Antrim’s Róisín McCormick and Maeve Kelly.
Shaw managed a second goal for Derry before Dervla Cosgrove got a goal back for Antrim on the 50 minute mark, making it 2-14 to 1-7. Derry continued strongly but Antrim raised the next green flag from a Róisín McCormick strike.
Aimee Lennon put the third nail in Antrim’s coffin with another goal for the visitors. Siobhán McKillop scored the final point of the day but by then Derry were home and hosed.
Finally, Galway got the result they wanted but not in the fashion they would have liked, as they edged Dublin by 0-17 to 1-11 at Parnell Park. This one was all square at 0-11 to 1-8 by half-time, but Galway really pushed on after the break.
Galway got off the mark first thanks to a point from Niamh McPeake, but it was a nip and tuck encounter where Galway led by 0-8 to 0-7 after 20 minutes until an Aisling O’Neill goal put the Dubs two points to the good.
For the Tribeswomen, Niamh Mallon and Carrie Dolan were sharp from dead balls while Ashling Maher and O’Neill were key to keeping Dublin’s tally ticking over. Niamh Niland notched another for Galway with five minutes left to give Galway a bit more breathing room leading into the final minutes.
