Cork beat back a Galway siege to claim title
CORK held off a valiant secondhalf rally by Galway to claim their third Tesco All-Ireland minor A camogie title in Thurles yesterday.
The Leesiders started nervously but led at half-time by a goal and extended that advantage to seven points in the second half.
Galway got it back to one but three points in as many minutes, as the game ticked into injury time secured the spoils.
It was a frantic opening, with both teams missing lots of chances.
Catherine Hanley (45) and Alannah Fahy, who was alert to pick up possession, move to her left and clear the black spot from 30m gave Galway the early advantage.
It took Cork 16 minutes to score but it was a super effort by Orla Cahalane from a free tight to the left sideline into the breeze.
Olwen Rabbitte finished well from the puckout after Niamh McInerney showed some good vision to get her into space.
Cork’s forwards were threatening when running at their markers, but Leah Hallinan ended another foray with a shot, brilliantly blocked at close range by Laura Freaney.
Disaster struck for Freaney from the resultant 45 however, as she miscontrolled Cahalane’s strike that was just dropping under the post, and the sliotar crossed the line in the 21st minute.
That appeared to rattle the westerners, and probably gave Cork confidence too as they pushed on to lead at half-time by 1-3 to 0-3.
Fiona Twohig profited from a tremendous delivery by Cahalane, after the midfielder’s brilliant catch and run, to whistle a shot over from a tight angle and just before the interval, slotted her second with an outstanding finish after good work by Orlaith Mullins, who had been prominent throughout the half along with Cahalane, Twohig and centre-back Aoife Healy.
Ciara Morrison had a goal two minutes after the resumption to put clear daylight between the sides and it was classic. Morrison finished with aplomb as the move started with a puckout by Jill Connaughton to Avril Cashman.
Twohig won a dirty ball out of a ruck, sent a crossfield delivery to Mullins, who gathered well and having attracted the cover, slipped a hand-pass into the raiding Morrison, who rifled beyond Freaney.
Galway kept pushing and Connaughton had to make a double save from Alannah Fahy and Aoibheann Barry. Rabbitte did split the posts for Galway but Ana Fahy, with a sensational score, and Morrison made it a seven-point game.
Aaron Fox’s side needed something and it came from another unfortunate error by otherwise top notch netminders, Connaughton letting the sliotar elude her and Hanley kicking to the net.
Yet Twohig slotted her third score with another fantastic effort and Cahalane a free to appear to douse the fire, particularly when Connaughton made a triple save from Hanley, Rabbitte and a miraculous instinctive stop from Barry with an outstretched leg.
Within minutes though, Megan Gannon powered a great shot to the top corner for a goal and points from a Hanley free and from play by McInerney and Barry made it a one-point game with less than three minutes of regulation time left.
Rather than wither, Cork grew and points from Morrison, Cahalane and Eimear Duignan could spark fevered celebrations.
Elsewhere, 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 held 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 the Leesiders 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 playoff, 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, setting themselves up nicely for a League final clash with Wexford who beat 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 of the game from 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 hattrick 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 winning team.
In Division 4, Tyrone ended their campaign on a high, just having too many big guns for Louth in recording a 4-10 to 1-2 success at Derrylaughan.