By Daragh Ó Conchúir at UPMC Nowlan Park
Róisín Black smiled knowingly and warmly when Ailish O’Reilly’s name was brought up.
Standing at the mouth of the tunnel into the dressing rooms, Black cut a contented figure, part of a full-back line that had given very little away as Galway stretched to a 1-18 to 1-11 triumph over Tipperary in the first Glen Dimplex All-Ireland senior camogie semi-final on Saturday.
On either side of the rock-like full-back were the outstanding Dervla Higgins and Shauna Healy – back this year having after giving birth to her first child in 2024. The duo were feisty, in faces, taking names and kicking ass. Black was less demonstrative but equally effective.
The Tipp attack, without Eimear McGrath (injured) and Cáit Devane (retired) from times of yore, floundered under their suffocating grip.
Galway have lost plenty too – Niamh Kilkenny and Áine Keane are just two huge talents denied to them this term, but the likes of Mairéad Dillon and Caoimhe Kelly are among those to step up to the plate impressively.
But it was a veteran that took the POTM honours, and no one argued with that.
O’Reilly is in pursuit of a fourth All-Ireland medal, having scored a goal in the 2013 decider, two in 2019 and slotted a couple of points in 2021.
Her role has evolved over the years from the goal-poaching full-forward one she had perfected but her paw prints were all over most that was good in an offensive sense.
The four-time All-Star from the Oranmore/Maree club was at the end of some good work from her teammates to slot four points, while her arrowed pass straight into the paw of a moving Niamh Mallon sent the Portaferry native away for a brilliant goal in the 39th minute that gave Galway the breathing space, to see the game out against a brave Tipperary.
“She’s my clubmate,” Black explained. “I see her true colours every year. Everyone underestimates Ailish O’Reilly but she has a good 13 years’ work with Galway camogie and every year she turns up, probably one of the most consistent players Galway’s ever had and was unbelievable today as always.”
Praise for her own role as part of that titanic triumvirate of destruction in defence was deflected.
“It comes from Sarah Healy in goals, all the way out. Our job is to deliver good ball up to the forwards and they do a great job of keeping it up there.”
Indeed, the ‘keeper showed the benefit of all her experience by remaining composed with some solid work between the posts, after a mis-control of a poor shot from Karen Kennedy for a point, resulted in a goal in the 26th minute.
At that stage, Galway were cruising, 0-8 to 0-2 in front, but they were rocked on their heels for the remainder of the first half, going in at the break only level, 10-9 to 1-6.
“At the start of the year we wanted to get back into an All-Ireland final so that’s job done today.
“Tipp got their purple patch in the second part of the first half. You just can never be complacent against a team like that and I suppose a small bit, we were, and they came back.
“But we’ve a lot of hard work done and we’ve girls coming off the bench there and they finished it off strong for us in the second half.”
Manager Cathal Murray loved what he saw from his players after that sticky patch.
“To be honest, we showed huge resilience,” said Murray, leading his side to a fifth All-Ireland final having won two of the previous four.
“We were missing five all year, so this team has shown huge resilience to even get this far. To put in a performance like that with players who weren’t on the team last year but have really, really stepped up to the plate, that is massive for the group.
“Losing a final last year was really hard. That was the goal all year to get back there. We are not being euphoric about getting there because we don’t want to lose another one. We are there now so we want to win it.
“They got a huge amount of oxygen from the goal. We always knew coming down today that the crowd would get behind Tipp if we allowed that to happen. We were doing really well in the game, and they got a big bounce from the goal. We limited the damage against the breeze to four points after the goal.
“Last year, we were never going well. Cork beat us by double digits in the group. We had a week to prepare for the Waterford quarter-final. We were poor in that quarter-final.
“It was the first time we had come into a semi-final as underdogs in a while. Then the way we won it too, a point in the last minute (against Tipperary). We were down for a lot of that game, four behind at the break, so it was a brilliant comeback.
“Today, we were on top for most of the game. It’s a different feeling. It looked out there like we were the better team for a lot of the second-half.
“Also, we lost last year’s All-Ireland final. It is huge for us to get back there. We are not going to celebrate getting back to an All-Ireland final, we have to go now and right the wrongs of last year.”
