Cork will face Kilkenny in the Liberty Insurance All Ireland senior camogie final after they overpowered Wexford in their semi-final replay in Walsh Park, Waterford this afternoon (Saturday, August 30th) on a scoreline of 1-15 to 0-08.
Katriona Mackey's first half goal gave the Rebels a precious one point lead at the interval, and they simply tore Wexford apart in the second half, restricting the Leinster side to just a single point in the final thirty minutes.
Although Orla Cotter had given the Cork women an early lead in the first half it was Wexford who settled better and a brace from Ursula Jacob either side of a Shelley Kehoe point put the 2012 champions two points clear by the fifth minute, and the signs were ominous for the Leesiders.
However, despite playing against a stiff breeze in that opening half Cork came roaring back and a Katriona Mackey point was followed midway through the half by a stunning goal by the corner forward as she pounced on Jennifer O'Leary's pass and slammed the ball beyond the reach of Mags D'Arcy.
Three Cotter frees against a solitary Wexford reply from the hard-working Katrina Parrock gave Cork what looked like a commanding four point lead going into the break, but three quick-fire Wexford points in injury time gave the score-line a very different complexion.
Jacob, Una Leacy, the Wexford heroine in the drawn game and Bríd Gordon reeled off that trio of points to leave it 1-5 0-7 narrowly in favour of Cork going into the second half, but hinting at another closely fought finish.
That however was not to transpire as Cork completely dominated the final half an hour, sweeping over seven unanswered points before Wexford raised their sole white flag of the half with six minutes remaining.
To the credit of the Model County women they never threw in the towel but three brilliant points in the final minutes from Cotter (2) and Mackey confirmed that Cork remain on course for a first Senior camogie title since 2009.
Scorers for Cork: O Cotter 0-8 (4f), K Mackey 1-3, A Murray, J White, B Corkery, J O'Leary 0-1 each.
Scorers for Wexford: U Jacob 0-3 (1f), S Kehoe, K Parrock, U Leacy, B Gordon, L Bolger 0-1 each
CORK: Aoife Murray, Joanne O’Callaghan, Anna Geary, Laura Treacy, Eimear O’Sullivan, Gemma O’Connor, Pamela Mackey, Rena Buckley, Aisling Thompson, Jennifer O’Leary, Angela Walsh, Briege Corkery, Julia White, Orla Cotter, Katriona Mackey.
Subs: Amy O'Connor for White (53m), Joanne Casey for Buckley (56m), Denise Cronin for Walsh (61m)
WEXFORD: Mags D’Arcy, Deirdre Codd, Noeleen Lambert, Karen Atkinson, Bríd Gordon, Mary Leacy, Shauna Sinnott, Josie Dwyer, Shelley Kehoe, Kate Kelly, Fiona Rochford, Jackie Quigley, Ursula Jacob, Katrina Parrock, Una Leacy.
Subs: Lisa Bolger for Gordon (30m), Eimear O'Connor for Fiona Rochford (45m), Fiona Kavanagh for Quigley (54m)
Referee: John Dolan (Clare)