Galway 2-14 Cork 1-13
Fiercesome foes Galway and Cork once again produced a high octane final in the National Camogie League senior decider, and not for the first time, Galway prevailed.
The current All Ireland and league title holders displayed all the necessary resilience and character to extract the victory at Croke Park on Saturday night. Although behind by six points, Galway manager Cathal Murray played his trump card with the introduction of his bench, and they never looked back.
Murray hailed the contribution of Carrie Dolan, who came off the bench to produce 1-4 and turn the game in Galway's favour.
“Carrie was exceptional. We try to pick the team on form. The starting team was who we felt were the form players, ” said Murray. "She [Dolan] really shoved it up to us and that's what we wanted her to do, to be honest with you”.
And Dolan was not the only one whose contribution from the bench proved pivotal as Catherine Finnerty scored a well-taken goal and Sabina Rabbitte added a late insurance points - a total of 2-5 from the bench.
“We’ve been in sticky situations at different times over the last couple of years; down in Callan last year, the All-Ireland final against Cork last year and today again, and against Tipperary a few weeks ago in Ballinasloe” says Murray. “We were really lucky to come out of that, but that’s a good sign of a team."
However, he says, the team will not be getting carried away.
"The same thing was being said about Kilkenny last year when they won the league after winning the All-Ireland. Cork are going to learn a huge amount from that, Kilkenny and Tipperary and all these teams looking in are going to learn a huge amount from that.
"We’re half way through a year, but as players and management, we’re going to be judged on how we do in the All-Ireland series. At the end of the day, Cork will take losing the league if they win the All-Ireland at the end of the year."
However, it is certainly a timely boost as Cork had gone into the second half with a three-point lead.
Ashling Thompson had fired over three first-half points, with wing backs Saoirse McCarthy and Laura Hayes chipping in with another trio of scores, aided by Laura Tracey, who put Cork on the front foot.
Niamh Kilkenny and Áine Keane scored for Murray's side, while Ailish O’Reilly was a consistent attacking threat, finishing the game with five points, four in the first half. When Laura Hayes and Katrina Mackey set up O’Connor for a goal within a minute of the second half, Cork looked set to win their first league title in nine years.
However, Galway replied with the next two points through Orlaith McGrath and O’Reilly, Carrie Dolan and Catherine Finnerty made an immediate impact, combining to win a free that Dolan converted. Just a minute short of the three-quarter mark, Finnerty took a pass from Niamh Hanniffy and beat two defenders with a single sidestep before slipping the ball underneath Amy Lee to level the game.
Cork responded through a Saoirse McCarthy point, but Dolan tied the game with a free before fielding a good diagonal ball and powering past her marker to register a vital second goal.
Cork were unlucky when a goal chance was fractionally wide, but two Dolan frees stretched the gap to five. Although Katrine Mackey replied with two dead ball Cork points in stoppage time, Galway's Rabbitte added a score to sign off a solid victory from the westerners.
SCORERS: GALWAY: C Dolan 1-4 (0-3f ), A O’Reilly 0-5 (0-2f ), C Finnerty 1-0, N Kilkenny 0-1, Á Keane 0-1, A Donohue 0-1, O McGrath 0-1, S Rabbitte 0-1; CORK: A Thompson 0-3, S McCarthy 0-3, K Mackey 0-3 (0-2f ), A O’Connor 1-0, F Keating 0-2, L Hayes 0-1, C Sigerson 0-1f.
GALWAY: Sarah Healy; R Hanniffy, S Dervan, Shauna Healy; R Black, E Helebert, D Higgins; A Donohue, N Kilkenny; N Hanniffy, A O’Reilly, Á Keane; O McGrath, R Hennelly, S McGrath. Subs: C Finnerty for Keane (38 ), C Dolan for S McGrath (38 ), S Rabbitte for O’Reilly (59 ), S Spellman for Hanniffy (60+2 ), T Kenny for Black (60+2 ).
CORK: A Lee; L Coppinger, L Tracey, M Cahalane; S McCarthy, M Murphy, L Hayes; K O’Mahoney, A Thompson; K Mackey, C Sigerson, I O’Regan; C Healy, F Keating, A O’Connor.Subs: E Murphy for Healy (30 ), M Ring for Sigerson (52 ), A Smith for Keating (60+2 ).
REFEREE: John Dermody (Westmeath ).
