All-Ireland minor camogie championship round-up

Tipperary will play Galway in the All-Ireland minor A camogie final, after they progressed through their semi-finals today.

There is a positive vibe around camogie in the Premier County at present, with the seniors having made significant progress this year, while Cahir achieved All-Ireland intermediate success last month.

The minors carried on the trend with a convincing victory over Cork, blitzing the Leesiders by 4-16 to 0-7.

This is a strong Tipperary unit, with many of them involved in the All-Ireland U16 winning team of two seasons ago.

Cork went at them in the opening 10 minutes and forced them to concede frees, while Caoimhe Burke had to pull off a couple of important saves. Keeva McCarthy, who was the Rebels’ leading scorer with four points, registered the game’s first two scores but once Ciardha Maher, Jean Kelly and Grace O’Brien got their teeth into the game, it was all Tipperary.

The prime beneficiary was Sinead Meagher and Cork had no answer to her as she pounced for three goals and added a couple of points for good measure. Caoimhe Perdue struck for the fourth major, while Orla O’Dwyer hit four points in what was a consummate team performance.

The other semi-final was a much tighter affair but a Galway side powered primarily by last year’s U16 winners always held the upper hand, prevailing by 0-12 to 1-5.

Carrie Dolan was the star of the show, providing half of the westerners’ scores. She had four of those as they moved five clear but a goal from Sophie O’Dwyer had Kilkenny in touch at the break, trailing by just 0-6 to 1-2.

Despite a couple of points from Blathnaid Galwey for the Noresiders, the Tribeswomen held firm thanks to further scores from Dolan and Leanne Freaney.

In the B semi-final, Down overcame the Laois challenge 3-7 to 1-6 and will play Roscommon in the decider.

Antrim beat Kildare 5-14 to 1-10 and will take on Derry in the B Shield final, after the Oak Leafers accounted for Meath by 3-12 to 3-7.

Westmeath will play Armagh in C decider. The Lakesiders edged out Carlow 2-6 to 1-7, while Armagh were too strong for Kerry, winning by 2-14 to 0-1.

Finally, there was a welcome success for Tyrone in the C Shield final, as they got the better of Monaghan by 3-12 to 1-3.