League champions Galway booked their place in the knockout stages of the Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship thanks to their victory over Clare on Saturday evening.
They maintained their 100 per cent record also, inflicting a first defeat on Clare in the process but their neighbours provided a stiff test and the Maroons were happy to escape from Cusack Park with a 1-13 to 0-13 triumph.
That Cathal Murray’s squad had seven individual contributors was a positive but they struggled to break down a well-drilled Clare team that had taken their scalp in the League at the beginning of the season.
The teams were deadlocked at 0-6 apiece at the break, Carrie Dolan and Niamh McPeake for Galway, and Lorna McNamara for Clare the primary scorers but it was Siobhán McGrath’s goal with just over a minute of the second half gone that proved the difference.
Points from McNamara and Orlaith Duggan brought Clare within two but that was as close as they got, as Galway just about managed to keep them at arm’s length.
