By Daragh Ó Conchúir
Tipperary 2-9
Waterford 0-10
A whirlwind start that yielded two goals and established a ten-point lead settled this joust, as Tipperary earned a third Electric Ireland All-Ireland Minor A Camogie Championship title at UPMC Nowlan Park.
It was a second consecutive defeat for Waterford, who reached their first final 12 months ago, and they will rue that 12-minute horror show from their perspective, which featured goals from Lucy Purcell and Ava Bevans.
It is to their credit that Mark English’s side somehow steadied the ship and were extremely competitive from that juncture forward, but the damage had been done and with Paula Quirke doing a fantastic marking job on the dangerous Maggie Gostl, Waterford just could not get the goal they needed to really kickstart any potential comeback.
Tipp opened the scoring in truly phenomenal fashion, when after good workrate forced a sideline, Purcell cut a sublime shot between the posts from a tight angle just outside the 13m line for a brilliant two-pointer.
Caoimhe Stakelum lofted a 45 soon after, after Katelyn Gardner had saved from Ava Bevans but Waterford didn’t heed the warning and Purcell beat Gardner in the 10th minute, finishing sublimely to the far corner after offering a supporting run as Bevans careered through the middle.
Stakelum converted a free soon after for John Ryan’s charges before Bevans lashed to the net, grabbing another Purcell sideline and giving Gardner absolutely no chance from 12m.
In the circumstances, Waterford did brilliantly to get to grips with their rampaging opponents, keeping them scoreless for the remainder of the half.
Waterford’s Emma Fitzgerald gathers possession under pressure from Tipperary’s Caithlyn Treacy (©INPHO/Ken Sutton)
Points from a free by Maggie Gostl, being well shadowed by Paula Quirke, Rebecca Farrell from play, and another Gostl free gave the Suirsiders some hope at 2-4 to 0-3 at the interval.
Gostl reduced the margin further from another placed ball after the resumption and had a shot from a free just on the 20m line saved with a full-length dive by Danielle Butler.
Significantly, Tipp eased the nerves with three points, Lucy Heffernan slotting the pick of them, after a lovely pass from Stakelum.
Waterford kept battling right to the end, scoring six of the last seven points. Sub Aisling Bonnar slotted a couple of them and Gostl added to her tally with a piledriver that was miraculously touched over by Butler but with Quirke and skipper Sarah Corcoran, who was named official player of the match, exerting control in defence, there was no way back as Tipp were deserving winners.
SCORERS FOR WATERFORD: M Gostl 0-4(3fs); A Bonnar 0-2; R Farrell, E Fitzgerald, E O’Neill, N Ryan 0-1each
SCORERS FOR TIPPERARY: L Purcell 1-2(0-2s); C Stakelum 0-4(3fs, 1 45); A Bevans 1-0; L Heffernan, C Shelly, E McGrath 0-1 each
TIPPERARY: D Butler, P Quirke, A Mellerick, E Franklin, E Dolan, S Corcoran, C Treacy, L Heffernan, L Coppinger, L Purcell, D Ryan, C Shelly, A Bevans, C Stakelum, E McGrath. Subs: A O’Kelly for Bevans (58); E Dwan for Mellerick (59)
WATERFORD: K Gardner, A Healy, A McGoldrick, C Cantwell, K O’Neill, H O’Sullivan, A Burrows, A Ferguson, H McGrath, K Lyons, M Kearney, R Farrell, E O’Neill, M Gostl, E Fitzgerald. Subs: N Ryan for Kearney (ht), C Morrissey for Cantwell (41); A Bonnar for Farrell (44); O Flynn for Lyons (55)
REFEREE: Gavin Donegan (Dublin)
** The Electric Ireland All-Ireland Minor A Shield Final between Dublin and Wexford ended in a draw, 1-9 to 2-6, a Katie Bolger point earning a reprieve for the Model County girls. The replay will take next weekend.
