It was a weekend of major disappointment for both the Kilkenny senior and intermediate camogie teams as they were comprehensively beaten by Cork in glorious summer sunshine at Tom Ryall Park, Kilmanagh last Sunday.
The Kilkenny Intermediates had already qualified for the semi-finals but their bitterly disappointing performance in their 1-12 to 0-4 defeat by the Rebelettes will come as a major setback.
The seniors suffered an even greater defeat as they were well beaten 5-11 to 0-7 by Cork leaving their prospects of qualifying for the All-Ireland semi-final hanging by a thread.
The senior team is now relying on already qualified Galway to provide Kilkenny with a lifeline by defeating Tipperary this coming weekend, and for Kilkenny also to defeat Dublin away from home.
If that scenario arises, then a play-off between Kilkenny and Tipperary will decide the 4th semi-final spot.
Otherwise, Kilkenny will bid adieu to their prospects of winning the O’Duffy Cup for the first time since 1994.
The sides were level at only 1 point a-piece at the end of the opening quarter, before Cork blitzed Kilkenny’s hopes of winning in a 4 minute spell between the 16th and 20th minutes.
Shieila Burns did the damage firing the hat-trick to put matters beyond doubt.
Rachel Maloney set up Burns for goal number one in the 16th minute, before adding points from Briege Corkery and a Maloney free.
The next 90 seconds decided the outcome of the game even though it was at such an early stage. An inch-perfect cross-field delivery from Emer O’Sullivan found Burns and she blasted her shot past Catriona Ryan.
Within 60 seconds Catriona Ryan gathered the sliothar on her goal-line before an attempted clearance was blocked and Burns tapped the ball into an empty net.
Rachel Maloney(free and ’45 ) added further points while points from Anne Dalton (free ) and Lizzie Lyng added to Kilkenny’s account as they trailed 3-5 to 0-3 at half-time.
It didn’t improve for Kilkenny during the third quarter as they only added points from a Sinead Millea free and ’45 with Cork maintaining their 10 point lead -3-6 to 0-5.
Cork were playing within themselves as they outscored their opponents 2-5 to 0-2 over the closing quarter.
Eimear O’Farrell and substitute Amanda O’Regan added further goals, with additional points from Rachel Maloney (2 ) Gemma O’Connor, Eimear O’Farrell and Emer O’Sullivan completing a resounding victory.
Cork were always in control in the intermediate clash and playing against a light first-half breeze, they built up a convincing 1-7 to 0-2 lead at the interval, as the Kilkenny forwards struggled badly throughout.
Cork centre-forward Michelle Browne was the star player as she scored 0-7 (0-4 from play ) and she was easily a class above the rest.
Julia White’s pace was also a source of concern to the Kilkenny defence, who battled hard but struggled further afield.
Sinead Long, Sinead Brennan, and Linda Cotterall were best for Kilkenny.
