Clonoulty stay on course after seeing off Drom

CAMOGIE: FBD Insurance Tipperary Senior Championship Semi-Final

Clonoulty/Rossmore 0-15

Drom & Inch 1-8

Report: Joe Scully at the County Camogie Grounds

MATCH DIGEST

Player of the Match: Eimear Bourke (Clonoulty Rossmore)

SCORERS – Clonoulty/Rossmore: Cait Devane 0-8 frees; Eimear Bourke 0-3; Kate Ryan 0-2; Casey Hennessy, Sarah Fryday 0-1 each.

Drom & Inch: Eimear McGrath 1-6 (1-0 pen, 0-1 free); Niamh Treacy, Miriam Campion 0-1 each.

The champions march on as Clonoulty/Rossmore qualified for another Tipperary Senior Camogie Championship final after overcoming a tough challenge from Drom & Inch in the second semi-final on Saturday.

It was a deserved victory for the West outfit, who were control throughout, with their defence in particular excellent, really putting the shackles on the Drom attack

It was a real back-and-forth encounter for the most part, and while the quality might not have been of the highest order, both teams gave it their all and produced an intense hour of camogie, where scores were hard come by and when they did come, they were scored under massive pressure.

At times the game could have went either way, but Clonoulty just had too much, particularly in the forwards with their inside line in particular excellent, especially in the first half as they caused all sorts of problem for the Drom full-back line.

It is now three-in-a-row wins for Clonoulty over their fierce rivals, as they look for back-to-back championship wins. While they will be delighted with the win, Clonoulty will be in no doubt that improvements will be needed for an excellent Thurles Sarsfields side, but they have the quality to up their game.

For Drom & Inch, they will be very disappointed with how the game panned out, never really showing their full quality, and can have no real complaints with the final outcome as they fall at the semi-final stage for the second-year-in-a-row.

The game got off to a slow start with both sides firing wide early on, before Drom opened the scoring in the fifth minute when Miriam Campion fired over after playing a neat one-two with Niamh Treacy.

Clonoulty responded within a minute through a wonderful score from the very impressive Eimear Bourke, before Eimear McGrath had Drom back ahead with a fine finish from out by the sideline.

A Cáit Devane free had the sides level yet again, before Sarah Fryday put Clonoulty ahead for the first time in the tenth minute. Eimear McGrath had the sides level again, before two points from Kate Ryan and a Devane free had Clonoulty ahead 0-6 to 0-3 in the 20th minute.

Another free from McGrath had the gap back at two, before a fine finish from Eimear Bourke for her second had the champions back ahead by three.

In the 27th minute, Tara Hoare found herself on the ball close to the Clonoulty goal and was pushed in the back and a penalty was awarded which Eimear McGrath dispatched powerfully to the back of the net to level proceedings once again.

However, that was not the end of the scoring in the half and Devane added another free in added time to leave Clonoulty 0-8 to 1-4 up at the break.

The second half started like the first with both sides guilty of missing chances before Cait Devane opened the scoring in the sixth minute and the lead was out to three two minutes later following a superb cross-field ball from Kate Ryan, Eimear Bourke found herself in space before finishing nicely.

Drom finally got their first score of the half in the 40th minute through Eimear McGrath. Devane and McGrath then exchanged the next four points, all frees, to leave Clonoulty/Rossmore 0-13 to 1-7 up with just three minutes to play, as the game really started to heat up, with both sides putting it all on the line.

In the 59th minute after a poor clearance from a Drom defender went straight to Kate Ferncombe who fed the ball off to Casey Hennessy who pointed.

Cait Devane added another free in the second minute of added time, and although Drom pushed for a way back in the final few minutes they had to make do with just an Eimear McGrath point after a strong run, but it wouldn’t be enough for them as Clonoulty/Rossmore set up a repeat of last year’s final against Thurles Sarsfields, in what should be a great game.

TEAMS – Clonoulty/Rossmore: Teresa Burke (6); Kate Ryan (8), Bernadette Ryan (7), Moira Kinane (7); Eimear Loughman (8), Courtney Ryan (7), Aoife Bourke (6); Sinead Ryan (6), Casey Hennessy (6); Cora Hennessy (7), Cáit Devane (7), Kellie Quirke (7); Kate Ferncombe (6), Sarah Fryday (8), Eimear Bourke (9).

Subs: Avril Quirke (NR) for K Ryan (57); Orla Ryan (NR) for Cora Hennessy (60+1).

Drom & Inch: Caoimhe Bourke (6); Maria Connolly (7), Christian Brennan (6), Eimear Cahill (6); Aoife McGrath (7), Mairead Eviston (8), Maureen Ryan (6); Mary Burke (6), Tara Hoare (6); Laurie Mullen (6), Niamh Treacy (7), Eimear McGrath (8); Ciara Cahill (6), Miriam Campion (6), Niamh Long (6).

Subs: Caroline Shanahan (7) for Mullen (HT), Maria Watson (6) for Long (53).

Referee: Mike Ryan (Nenagh Eire Og).