By Daragh Ó Conchúir
A pointed free by Anais Curran in the fourth minute of injury time grabbed a deserved share of the spoils for Wexford against Galway at Bellefield GAA in Enniscorthy.
Colin Sunderland’s crew tore into their more fancied rivals from the throw-in of this second round tie and an 18th minute goal by Curran, who would finish with 1-8, nudged them ahead. Mairéad Dillon breached their defences just before the break, however and Galway led by 1-8 to 1-6 at half-time.
It was nip and tuck through the second half and perhaps the key passages of play came at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
Aoife Donohue gave Galway a modicum of breathing space for the first time with a 49th minute goal to put four points between them but from the puckout, Chloe Foxe reduced that to one again.
A couple of Donohue points opened the gap to three for Cathal Murray’s charges but the Yellowbellies landed four of the last five points scored from the 57th minute, Curran landing the last two to secure a 2-15 apiece result that is sure to give Wexford great confidence for the remainder of their Group 2 programme.
Kilkenny made it two away wins on the spin without any drama, enjoying themselves on the way to a 6-15 to 0-9 success at Corrigan Park.
Julianne Malone and Asha McHardy grabbed a brace of goals each, while Katie Nolan and Sarah Barcoe (pictured above) also raised green flags as the traffic was all of the one-way variety.
Antrim did cause the Cats some problems and Róisín McCormick registered five first-half points but it was the ruthlessness of Peter Cleere’s side that was notable.
Malone, Nolan and McHardy had goals inside 13 minutes. Malone added her second in the 26th minute and four points from captain, Aoife Prendergast made it 4-7 to 0-6 at the interval.
It was a stroll from there to the finish, Barcoe and McHardy shaking the rigging to conclude with a 24-point margin of victory.
League champions Tipperary also retained their 100% record with ease, courtesy of a 5-22 to 0-13 win at the Derry GAA Centre of Excellence. Goals from Eimear McGrath and Róisín Howard, along with some excellent shooting from distance by the former that included a two-point sideline, established a 2-17 to 0-6 lead at half-time.
Howard nabbed a second goal after the resumption, and further majors from Eimear Heffernan and the energetic Clodagh McIntyre made it a comfortable outing.
Derry had won their opener against Antrim and last year’s intermediate champions battled to the end, points from the experienced duo Aoife Ni Chaiside and Áine Barton giving the home supporters something to cheer about.
Waterford’s increasing depth was on display in their 5-15 to 0-9 defeat of Limerick at Walsh Park, with minor star and senior debutant Maggie Gostl grabbing the first of what is likely to be many goals at this level.
Mairéad O’Brien repeated her two-goal feat of the loss to Tipperary seven days ago, while Orla Hickey and Annie Fitzgerald also found the net.
It was 2-11 to 0-2 at the interval and though Caoimhe Costelloe and Rebecca Delee improved the scoring situation for the visitors, last year’s All-Ireland finalists continued to go for the jugular to keep their prospects of being involved in the business part of the season alive.
The team that beat them in the All-Ireland final, Cork have been going about things very professionally and a much-changed outfit from last weekend’s defeat of Wexford, made light work of Down by 4-21 to 1-7 at Páirc Esler.
Katrina Mackey and Fiona Keating struck for goals to put the Rebels 2-13 to 1-5 in front at half-time. Sorcha McCartan, playing against her native county, grabbed a third and Clare Mullins followed up, while Mackey finished with 1-8.
Dublin secured their first points of the campaign, having pushed Galway to three points in the first round, inflicting a first defeat on Clare convincingly, by 0-18 to 0-9 at St Peregrine’s.
Aisling Maher, Áine Gannon, Kerrie Finnegan and Sinéad Nolan all split the posts impressively, while Clare struggled to make inroads at the other end, Áine O’Loughlin and Róisin Begley providing the majority of their scores.
