By Daragh Ó Conchúir
Cork 0-13
Tipperary 0-10
Cork proved themselves top of the pops in terms of intermediate second-string teams when making it two Very Camogie League Division 2B titles in a row as a result of this hard-fought win over Tipperary at Abbottstown.
As with most of the games taking place today, the wind had a significant impact and made it difficult for the players and it was the Rebels that managed that bit better to claim the verdict.
Tipp will feel that they probably did not do enough with those elements in their favour in the opening period, as the team managed by long-time senior boss Bill Mullaney, had to make do with a one-point advantage.
Jillann Quirke and Jenny Grace hinted at something better for the Premier but they were pegged back by two pointed frees from the vastly experienced Lauren Homan.
Grace converted two frees from a different postcode but again, Cork drew level thanks to Homan and Lucy Allen and though Quirke edged Tipp ahead just before the short whistle, you doubted whether they had done enough.
While Grace, who top-scored for Tipp with seven points, made it a two-point game early in the second half, the sliotar began to spend more and more time raining down on the Tipp defence and while they coped well, as their Cork counterparts had done in the opening period, the percentages suggest Donie Daly’s charges would gradually reel the Premiers in.
And they did, Emma Flanagan (not to be mistaken with the player with the same name that got on the scoresheet for Tipp in the first half), Fiona Nelligan and winning captain Homan, who finished with nine points, one from play, moving them three clear, which proved sufficient.
Laura Doyle was a notable presence in the Cork rearguard, with Niamh O’Leary also standing out and while Miriam Murphy and Lilly Fahie were just as prominent at the other end, it was the marginally superior scoring power that decided this in Cork’s favour.
SCORERS FOR CORK: L Homan 0-9(8fs); L Allen 0-2; E Flanagan, F Nelligan 0-1
SCORERS FOR TIPPERARY: J Grace 0-7(6fs); J Quirke 0-2; E Flanagan 0-1
CORK: C Hurley, M de Búrca, N O’Leary, A Barrett, L Doyle, O McAllen, M Ring, E Sheehan, M Condon, C O’Sullivan, L Allen, F Nelligan, H O’Leary, E Flanagan, L Homan. Subs: C Dooley for O’Sullivan (40), A Cashman for Condon (45), E O’Donoghue for Sheehan (53)
TIPPERARY: L Leenane, L Ryan, M Murphy, T Hoare, L Shinners, G Fox, L Fahie, O O’Brien, C Brennan, A Quinlisk, J Grace, J Quirke, A Fahie, S Meagher, E Flanagan. Subs: M Connolly for Shinnors (26), C Shanahan for Quinlisk (50)
REFEREE: Max Molloy (Wicklow)
