Gala All Ireland senior championship wrap

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KILKENNY are back. Having enjoyed great success at underage level in recent years, they have made the breakthrough at adult level again, to qualify for the Gala All Ireland senior camogie championship semi-final courtesy of their win away to Dublin on Saturday (2-14 to 0-4). Furthermore, they can look forward to meeting last season’s beaten finalists Galway on their home patch in Nowlan Park on August 15. The other semi-final will see the titleholders Cork up against Wexford in what is a hugely attractive double header.

While there had been widespread optimism that the Black and Amber would step up to the plate, this means that Tipperary who dominated the limelight in the early 00’s are gone. They travelled to Pßirc UÝ Rinn with realistic hopes of getting the win they needed, but Cork managed to edge them out with a battling two point victory, 1-13 to 0-14.

What will disappoint the Premier girls most is that they took the game to their hosts, actually led starting out the second half with the wind to their backs, but they were eventually worn down by Cork. The Cork goal came in the opening half from Emer O’Farrell following Gemma O’Connor’s hard work.

However, in what turned out to be a real test for the home side, they got the response from Cathriona Foley, Mary O’Connor and Jenny Duffy in defence. And with points from Gemma O’Connor, Rachel Moloney and Sile Burns they were back on track. Finally a long range free from Orla Cotter put enough daylight between the sides.

Tipperary, although not named on the original team started Claire Grogan and Eimear McDonnell. McDonnell was in her usual good form scoring three points, but Cork switched Rena Buckley who marked her closely in the second half. Cait Devane left her mark with six points.

Meanwhile, Ann Downey’s Kilkenny reeled off five unanswered points in the opening 10 minutes of their game with the Blues. By the half they were in front 1-11 to 0-1 with the goal coming from Edwina Keane. Elaine Aylward drove forward from half back while Ann Dalton impressed around the middle. Dublin would have been in a worse position only for