Clonoulty fend off rising Éire Óg

CAMOGIE: FBD Insurance Tipperary Senior Championship Semi-Final

Clonoulty/Rossmore 1-16

Eire Og Annacarty/Donohill 0-14

Report: Joe Scully at the Camogie Grounds, The Ragg

Clonoulty/Rossmore are back in the big one as they overcame a spirited Eire Og Annacarty/Donohill in the second County Senior Camogie Championship semi-final on Saturday.

The 2024 champions extra experience was what made the difference as they just had too much for a young Eire Og side who showed more than enough to say that they will be a force to be reckoned with in the coming years.

It was the minutes either side of half-time which would prove crucial as Clonoulty overturned a one point deficit, scoring 1-5 either side of the break, all from the stick of former Tipperary star Cait Devane.

The first half was a real back and forth affair with Eire Og, playing with the aid of a strong breeze, playing some great camogie with the likes of Eva O’Dwyer and Danielle Ryan in particular outstanding but would end up trailing at the break and were always going to face an uphill battle then in the second half and as it wore on, they seemed to run out of steam.

Clonoulty showed just why they have appeared in the last seven finals with Moira Kinane, Clodagh Quirke, Casey Hennessy, Cait Devane, Sarha Fryday and Eimear Bourke were all outstanding.

It took less than a minute for the first white flag to be raised through an Eva O’Dwyer free for Eire Og with Cait Devane drawing the sides level a minute later, also from a placed ball.

Points from Roisin Ferncombe and Eimear Bourke had the 2024 champions ahead by two but Danielle Ryan had the gap back at one in the ninth minute following a fine finish on the run.

Clonoulty would hit back with three points in-a-row, two Devane frees followed by another Eimear Bourke effort from play.

Eire Og would come flying back and levelled by the 23rd minute thanks to scores from Anne O’Dwyer, two placed balls from Eva O’Dwyer, before Danielle Ryan hit the leveller.

Clonoulty would be back ahead not long after through Casey Hennessy after being set up by Cait Devane. Jean Kelly had the sides level again before Leah Heffernan put Eire Og ahead in the last minute of the half.

However, Clonoulty would finish the stronger though and three Devane frees, the second from inside her own half, had them ahead at the break 0-10 to 0-8.

Then thirty seconds after the restart, Eimear Bourke found herself in possession and made a bee-line for the Annacarty goal before slipping a pass to Devane who smashed to the back of the net.

The two players combined again with Bourke setting up Devane in the 33rd minute this time for a point. Devane was on target again a minute later from a free, before an Eva O’Dwyer free opened Eire Og’s account for the half.

Danielle Ryan added another, before in the 41st minute Jean Kelly saw her low shot brilliantly saved by the Clonoulty keeper Eva Ryan. The gap would be back to four points in the 43rd minute when Leah Heffernan found the target, with Casey Hennessy responding in kind two minutes later.

It was back to four shortly after through a superb Chloe O’Neill point, but Clonoulty would again show their class by taking control and scoring three in-a-row through Sinead Ryan, Sarah Fryday, following a fine team move, and Kate Ferncombe in the 55th minute with what would be their final score of the game.

Eire Og, to their credit, would continue to fight until the end and points from Jean Kelly and an Eva O’Dwyer free had the gap back to four but that would be as close as they would get.

TEAMS – Clonoulty/Rossmore: Eva Ryan (7); Moira Kinane (7), Clodagh Quirke (8), Eimear Loughman (7); Julie Murphy (6), Kate Ryan (7), Bernadette Ryan (6); Courtney Ryan (6), Casey Hennessy (7), Kellie Quirke (6), Cait Devane (9), Sinead Ryan (6) (0-1), Sarah Fryday (8), Roisin Ferncombe (6), Eimear Bourke (9).

Subs: Kate Ferncombe (7) for Ferncombe (HT), Sophie Maher (NR) for S Ryan (56); Aoife Bourke (NR) for Kinane (58).

Eire Og Annacarty/Donohill: Danielle Butler (6), Nia Donovan (6), Caoimhe Brady (7), Shauna Heffernan (6), Jennifer Heffernan (7), Ciannait Walsh (8), Rachel O’Dwyer (7), Danielle Ryan (9), Anne O’Dwyer (6), Eva O’Dwyer (8), Ciara Slattery (6), Leah Heffernan (7), Jean Kelly (6), Lucy Heffernan (6).

Subs: Molly Gantley (7) for Donovan (36); Chloe O’Neill (7) for Slattery (42); Elaine Kelly (6) for R O’Dwyer (48); Rachel Heffernan (6) for A O’Dwyer (53); Mary O’Dwyer (NR) for J Heffernan (59).

Referee: TP O’Sullivan (Lorrha).