Galway Ladies have gone top of the division one table thanks to a facile 1-12 to 0-4 win over Tipperary, and Cork’s surprise loss to Donegal at the weekend.
Tim Rabbitt's never looked back from the start and were 0-3 up within 10 minutes in Tuam Stadium on Sunday. Despite a pre-match injury to Olivia Divilly, Galway were always in control, with scores from Fabienne Cooney, Ailbhe Davoren, and Andrea Trill, putting them on the front foot early.
Roisín Leonard’s second-half penalty made sure of Galway’s 1-12 to 0-4 win, but another solid defensive display pleased Rabbitt.
“We wanted to put in a really good performance to back up the one we put in against Dublin, and we challenged the girls to do that,” said Rabbitt, who expects captain Louise Ward back for a top of the table clash with Cork in a fortnight.
“We did really well. We kept Tipperary to four points in difficult enough conditions. We didn’t concede a goal which we are always happy about.”
The Premier County opened through midfielder Caitlin Kennedy before Róisín Leonard, with a free, and Lynsey Noone had fired back for the Tribeswomen. When Anna Carey clipped over a score from a tight-angle and Noone got on the end of a Trill pass, last year’s runners-up led 0-6 to 0-2 at the interval.
Galway never let up. Róisín Leonard hit her first effort from play before she capitalised when Noone was fouled - converting her spot-kick for a 1-7 to 0-2 lead.
On the three-quarter mark, Róisín Leonard's second shot at goal rattled off the right-hand post before Hannon hit the score of the day as she dummied her marker and stroked over with the outside of her boot.
Galway now face two tough fixtures. First up is against Cork, who are also on 12 points - Galway have a superior points difference - on March 22. Then they face Mayo, who are currently in third spot with nine points.
Scorers : Galway: R Leonard 1-2 (1-0 pen ) (1f ), L Noone 0-2, L Hannon 0-2, A Trill 0-2, A Davoren 0-1, F Cooney 0-1, A Morrissey 0-1, T Leonard 0-1.
Tipperary : C Kennedy 0-1, A Carey 0-1, E Morrissey 0-1, A Moloney 0-1 (1f ).
GALWAY : D Gower; S Molloy, S Lynch, Chelsie Crowe; C Cooney, F Cooney, L Coen; S Divilly, A Davoren; L Noone, T Leonard, A Trill; R Ní Fhlatharta, R Leonard, L Hannon. Subs: M Glynn for Ní Fhlatharta (h-t ), C Miskell for Noone (41 ), N Connolly for F Cooney (46 ), A Morrissey for R Leonard (46 ), A Coen for Divilly (56 ), Chloe Crowe for C Cooney (56 ), B Murphy for Davoren (59 ), S Conneally for T Leonard (59 ).
TIPPERARY : L Fitzpatrick; E Moore, L Spillane, E Cronin; B Condon, S Lambert, M Heffernan; L Dillon, C Kennedy; K Davey, E Morrissey, E McCarthy; A Carey, A Moloney, R Daly. Subs: M Curley for Dillon (10, inj ), K Cunningham for Carey (34 ), A McGuigan for Daly (34 ), M Creedon for McCarthy (41 ), C Davey for Lambert (47 ), S McKevitt for K Davey (47 ), A Delaney for Moloney (52 ).
