Clare game is effectively a semi-final - Kelly

By Joe Scully

CLARE v TIPPERARY

Cusack Park, Ennis

Saturday, 30th March

Throw-in @ 2.00pm

Referee: Ray Kelly (Kildare)

Tipperary manager Denis Kelly was delighted with his sides performance and win against Kilkenny on Saturday but knows there is still work to be done as his side go in search of a place in the Division 1A League final.

“It was a good performance after a slow start,” he began.

“A goal down early on, we weren’t overly happy with that, but once we got up and running there was only one team in it.

“I think we controlled the second half and limited their scores, we put in a good performance, but still loads of work to be done.”

The Toomevara clubman was also happy with his sides recent run of three wins in a row against Galway, Cork and Kilkenny, and the momentum they are picking up as they chase a first appearance in a final for fifteen years.

“Yeah, we are in a good position now but again we can’t take Clare for granted,” Kelly warned.

“They are never easily beaten. We enjoy the win today, but then the attention turns to the Clare game where we will probably have to win to qualify for a league final, so it in essence is a league semi-final.”

Kelly was also delighted with his sides second half performance as he felt they reacted well to the half-time talk.

“We went in at the break two up and we were delighted with that as we felt we hadn’t played well in the first half at all,” he added.

“But we got our act together at the break, and righted a few wrongs, and the girls really responded to the instructions giving out, and we were delighted with that.”

He added: “It is a massive positive as there are players coming back from injury and are all chomping at the bith to get in, so there is going to be huge competition for places on this team, so it was good to get a few more girls in today, and we might make a few changes in the team for next weekend.”

Team captain Karen Kennedy made her first start of the campaign and was also delighted with the win but also feels like there is a lot of work still to be done.

“Yeah, obviously we are happy with the win, but there is a lot of things we will be unhappy about as well,” she admitted.

“There were a lot of chances we didn’t take, but we can be happy enough with our performance but there is definitely a lot to work on going forward.

“We have another important match against Clare next weekend, and we will be working on a few improvements going into that game, and hopefully get a good performance again.”

The Thurles Sarsfields player was also happy with her own performance and to get more minutes on the pitch after her injury layoff, returning as a second half sub in the round three win over Cork.

“It’s definitely good to get time on the pitch, it’s hard to get back after a long injury layoff, so just happy to be back on the pitch, and picking up a score something I’m not use to so yeah it was good to contribute,” she said.