The Galway Senior camogie team recorded back-to-back victories in the Very Camogie League's division 1A after they overcame a tough test against Clare in front of a great crowd in Kilbeacanty on Saturday, winning by 1-14 to 0-13.
A goal from Shannon Corcoran in the first half helped lay the foundations for the victory. While Galway had a strong first half performance, they had to weather a strong second half from Clare.
Galway captain Shauna Healy opened the scoring for Galway on the fourth minute with a point from play, which was quickly followed with points from Ailish O’Reilly and Rachael Hanniffy to put Galway 0-3 to 0-0 ahead after four minutes.
It was 10 minutes before Lorna McNamara responded for Clare with a 10th minute point, but within a minute Dolan added one of her own. However, Clare found some rhythm, producing unanswered points through Rebecca Foley, McNamara free and a point from Muireann Scanlon to leave the sides deadlocked after 19 minutes .
Galway responded positively, taking the game to Clare in the last 10 minutes of the half and scored 1-4 without reply - Dolan replying a free, before Sabina Rabbitte laid off a great pass to Shannon Corcoran, who made no mistake in sticking the ball in the back of the Clare net for her first goal at senior level. Dolan, through a free, Jennifer Hughes from play, and O’Reilly from play, all added points to before the half time whistle as Galway led 1-9 Clare 0-4 at the break.
Galway continued where they left off after the resumption when Rabbitte, a player who was winning ball throughout the game, laid off a pass to Dolan who split the posts to extend Galway’s lead.
McNamara finally registered Clare’s first score in 16 minutes when she added another free to her tally, while Claire Hehir posted a superb long-range point a minute later to help reduce the deficit.
Dolan, with a free and point, and a McNamara free left eight between the sides before Clare enjoyed their purple patch between the 43rd and 51st minutes. adding five points without reply - McNamarra with two through frees and one from play, while Foley and Hehir added points from frees to reduce the deficit to three.
At that stage Galway appeared to struggle, but Dolan, with a free, secured Galway’s first score in 18 minutes. However, Clare's Chloe Morey made it a one score game in the 62nd minute before Aoife Donohue produced the insurance score for Galway on the 63rd minute to make it back-to-back wins in the Very Camogie League. Clare did have their chances to level the game, but a missed free, and the Galway defence stood strong to deny them a goal in the final moments of the game.
Now with back-to-back wins, Galway take a break until March 18 when they will take on Dublin at home. They are hoping Niamh Hanniffy will be recovered from she injury she picked up early in the first half.
Dervla Higgins, Shauna Healy and Roisín Black all worked well in the defence for Galway while up front, Carrie Dolan, Shannon Corcoran, Sabina Rabbitte and Aoife Donohue all tried hard as a unit to try and create scoring chances for Galway. While for Clare Claire Hehir, Niamh O’Dea and Ellen Carey preformed very well for the Banner while upfront, Lorna McNamara, Rebecca Foley and Muireann Scanlan were always threating when they were within their scoring range.
Galway: F Ryan, S Healy (0-1 ) (C ), R Black, D Higgins, R Hanniffy (0-1 ), E Helebert, K.A Porter, A Donohue (0-1 ), J Hughes (0-1 ), C Dolan (0-8, 0-5F ), N Hanniffy, A Keane, S Corcoran (1-0 ), S Rabbitte, A O’Reilly (0-2 ). Subs, Galway: L Casserly for Hanniffy (15m ), L Kelly for O'Reilly (54m ), C Hickey for Hughes (54m ), N Niland for Corcoran (61m, O Rabbitte for Dolan (64m )
Clare: D Murphy, S Daly, C Hehir (0-2, 0-2F ) (JC ), C Grogan, C Kelly, N O’Dea (JC ), E Casey, C Carmody, A Walsh, L McNamara (0-8, 0-6F ), J Daly, M Scanlan (0-1 ), R Foley (0-1 ), A O’Loughlin, A Keating. Subs, Z Spillane for Daly (HT ), Chloe Morey for Amy Keating (42 ), A Ryan for Casey (44 ).
Referee: G Donegan (Dublin )
