A first-half goal by Rachel O’Shea in addition to eight pointed frees from Joanne Casey propelled Cork’s intermediates to a 1-13 to 0-10 triumph over their Galway counterparts in the Littlewoods Ireland Camogie League Division 2 quarter-final in Moneygall.
The Rebels had to overcome a lightning start by their opponents, who led by 0-4 to 0-1 after just six minutes, with two points (one from a free) by Katie Gilchrist and one each by Lauras Kelly and Loughnane.
They outscored the Galwegians by 1-6 to 0-2 for the remainder of the half however, O’Shea raising a green flag in the 18th minute. The lively Hayley Ryan registered three points from play and with Casey converting three placed balls, it was 1-7 to 0-6 at half-time.
Cork began the second half strongly with three more pointed frees from their Inniscarra sharpshooter and another from O’Shea to extend their advantage to seven. Though Galway had a run of three on the trot themselves, Kelly bringing her tally to three with a pair and Gilchrist notching up her fourth point, it was Casey who had the final say from a couple of frees for Cork to progress to next weekend’s semi-finals.
In the Division 2 relegation play-off, Laois retained their status in the second tier by defeating Tipperary 2-10 to 0-13 at St Rynagh’s in Banagher, meaning that the Tipp second string will now play Kildare in a bid to avoid making the drop.
In Division 3, Shanise Fitzsimons hit five goals as Cavan accounted for Dublin by 5-11 to 2-9 to set themselves up nicely for a League final clash with Wexford, who were untroubled in accounting for Down by 5-15 to 0-3. Philip Brady’s upwardly-mobile Breffni side held the upper hand for most of proceedings, thanks to a brace of goals in the opening three minutes by Shanise Fitzsimons.
Dublin did well to haul themselves back into contention, even though Clodagh Keenaghan was in accurate shooting form for Cavan. Points from Aoibhe Dillon, Chloe O’Connor and Niamh Comerfort helped the hosts settle and it was 2-6 to 1-5 at the change of ends.
Fitzsimons completed her hat-trick ten minutes into the second half but after a Carys Daly green flag made it tight again entering the closing stages, the gifted Denn destroyer racked up her fourth and fifth goals to give the final score a slightly flattering look for the winners.
Also in Division 3, Antrim edged out Carlow 2-12 to 1-10 while Clare emerged from a shootout on sunny Shannonside with a thrilling 2-22 to 1-13 triumph. It was 0-10 to 0-7 at the interval in Fr McNamara Park in Ennis but Kate O’Gorman was prominent as the hosts moved nine clear with ten minutes of normal time left.
An Amy Burke goal gave Limerick some hope entering the finishing stretch but Clare responded resoundingly with majors from Aisling Cooney and Emma Considine to end their campaign on a positive note.
In Division 4, Tyrone ended their campaign on a high whenhaving too many big guns for Louth in recording a 4-10 to 1-2 success at Derrylaughan.
