Murray admits Tribe can ill-afford wides repeat

GALWAY remain on course to retain the O’Duffy Cup but though vanquished, Tipperary’s improvement continues.

Cathal Murray was pleased to have seen off a dogged opponent to return to the final but the Tribeswomen lacked fluidity in attack – mainly thanks to Tipp’s Karen Kennedy, Mary Ryan and Aoife McGrath.

Still, there is improvement in the champions, with skipper and six-time All-Star Sarah Dervan needing to be at her best in leading a solid defensive effort as Tipp threw all they knew at them.

“It’s great to be back in an All-Ireland final,” said Murray.

“It’s what the day was about I suppose. I was happy with the performance at times. There are things we need to improve on but we knew it was going to be a battle. Tipp beat us already in the league and they’d a great win over Waterford in the quarter-final so we knew they’d give us a huge test.

“The goal in the first half was crucial,” he said of Carrie Dolan’s 15th-minute strike after Tipperary had established an early lead.

“Tipp were probably on top at the time, so ’twas crucial. We were always that bit ahead (because of it) and I thought the backs were outstanding in the last 15 or 20 minutes the way they held out. But that work-rate starts from your half-forward line. It’s a team effort, the defence.

“We had a lot of wides when we need to be taking the chances. We probably need to pass the ball more into the forwards but it’s a huge challenge against Kilkenny in two weeks’ time. We left chances behind – 1-11 isn’t a great score but conditions are hard to play in. It was very slippy and you have to give credit to Tipperary as well.” SCORERS – Galway: C Dolan 1-3 (1f, 1 ‘45’); O McGrath, S McGrath (1 ‘45’, 0-1 pen) 0-2 each; A O’Reilly, R Hennelly, N Hanniffy, N Kilkenny 0-1 each.

Tipperary: C Devane 0-6 (4f); R Howard, S Fryday 0-1 each. GALWAY – Sarah Healy; Shauna Healy, S Dervan, H Cooney; E Helebert, S Gardiner, T Kenny; N Kilkenny, A Donohue; C Dolan, C Cormican, R Hennelly; A O’Reilly, N Hanniffy, O McGrath. Subs: S McGrath for Hennelly (45), S Spellman for Dolan (51), N Coen for Donohue (60).

TIPPERARY – Á Slattery; J A Burke, M Ryan, E Loughman; M Eviston, A McGrath, C Quirke; N Treacy, K Kennedy; J Kelly, R Howard, S Fryday; G O’Brien, C Devane, M Campion. Subs: S Quirke for Devane (45), S Quirke for Kelly (49), C McIntyre for Campion (49), C Maher for Treacy (55), K Blair for Fryday (60). REF – R Kelly (Kildare)