We were taught a lesson - Ralph

By Joe Scully

Tipperary were no match for Kilkenny in the second round of the All-Ireland Minor ‘A’ Camogie Championship on Sunday and for Tipp manager Ray Ralph, it was a very disappointing result and one in which he felt currently shows the gap in quality between the two sides.

“I’m very disappointed after that it was a fair trimming, now in fairness,” he began.

“Kilkenny are a class outfit, their hurling was way better, their blocking and hooking, and running off the shoulder, and look they thought us a bit of a lesson out there today, and all we can do now is dust ourselves down and move on.”

The Moycarkey/Borris clubman felt the first half was where all the damage was done, one where Tipp trailed by 13 points at the interval, and despite a better second half it was already too late at that stage.

“In the first half they just dominated everything, and although we came back into it, in the second half, the damage was already done at that stage,” he continued.

“They are the standard bearers at this level currently and we obviously have a bit to go to get to that level.”

Ralph knows his side have a lot of work to do ahead of their next fixture in two weeks’ time, when they make the trip to the capital top take on Dublin, but at the same time was happy with how his charges never gave in on Sunday.

“We have a lot of work to do ahead of Dublin, but that’s the task we’re facing,” Ralph continued.

“In fairness to the girls today they gave it their all but obviously weren’t match ready and against a team like Kilkenny you will be punished.

“I can’t complain about how hard the girls worked out there today, we were just outgunned, but they stayed trying and working all game, which is all I can ask of them, but it’s back to the drawing board now ahead of the Dublin game.”