Galway punish Tipp for failing to build on strong start

CAMOGIE: Centra National Hurling League Division 1A Round 3

Tipperary 0-12

Galway 1-13

Report: Joe Scully at the Camogie Grounds, The Ragg

MATCH DIGEST

Player of the Match: Ciara Hickey (Galway).

SCORERS – Tipperary: Eimear McGrath 0-5 (4 frees); Caoimhe Stakelum, Clodagh McIntyre 0-2 each; Mary Burke, Caoimhe Maher, Grace O’Brien 0-1 each.

Galway: Carrie Dolan 0-6 (4 frees); Shannon Corcoran 0-3; Aoife Donoghue 1-0; Sarah Healy (free), Niamh Mallon, Niamh McPeake, Niamh Niland 0-1 each.

There was disappointment for Tipperary on Saturday, after they suffered a second successive defeat in Division 1A of the National Camogie League with Galway running out comfortable four-point victors.

The home side will be very disappointed with this result, as the defeat was self-inflicted to a massive extent. Playing with the wind in the opening half, Tipp got off to a great start and were well on top, and leading by 0-6 to 0-1, when in the 17th minute Galway goaled rather fortuitously through Aoife Donohue.

This seemed to knock the confidence of the Tipp side and spurred the All-Ireland champions who kicked on from here and got back into the game.

The winning of the game was the opening ten minutes of the second half, where the Tipperary puckout malfunctioned and led to easy Galway scores.

Tipp will look back at some missed opportunities while on top that also seemed to drain their confidence a bit too, while at times they were also a bit guilty of taking the wrong options in possession.

While this defeat will hurt, there are also positives to take from the game, notably the performance in the opening fifteen minutes, and if they can just keep that going for longer and not let the performance drop, results will pick up in no time as there is plenty of quality in the side.

A fine finish from Mary Burke opened the scoring for the home side in the second minute, before a Carrie Dolan free levelled matters a minute later.

Tipp would then play their best camogie for the next fifteen minutes, causing real problems for the Galway defence and hit five points in a row.

Caoimhe Stakelum showed her class with a great score, before a free from Eimear McGrath extended the lead, and then a brilliant team move ended with Caoimhe Maher finishing. McGrath added another free, before Grace O’Brien had her sides sixth in the 16th minute.

Then came the games turning point when a speculative Aoife Donohue effort from range found its way to the back of the net.

Galway started to build and two frees, one from goalkeeper Sarah Healy and the other from Carrie Dolan had the sides level in the 21st minute.

It stayed that way until extra time when the game burst into life once again with first Eimear McGrath putting Tipp back ahead from a free, but Galway were level straight away when Niamh McPeake won the resultant puckout played a one-two with Niamh Mallon before pointing.

McGrath restored the lead not long after with an excellent finish on the turn, to leave Tipp one point ahead at the break, 0-8 to 1-4.

Galway, now with wind advantage, came out flying in the second half and hit the opening five scores within six minutes to turn the screw on the home side, with Shannon Corcoran opening the scoring in the opening minute.

She had Galway ahead in the 34th minute, after a Tipp puckout went wrong. Niamh Niland added another then a Carrie Dolan free, and a Niamh Mallon effort from play had Galway 1-9 to 0-8 ahead in the 36th minute.

An Eimear McGrath free two minutes later stemmed the tide for the home side and the gap was back at two minutes later, after good build up play from Karen Kennedy and Grace O’Brien who teed up Clodagh McIntyre who finished nicely.

Galway had the gap back to four through a Carrie Dolan free and a Shannon Corcoran effort from play.

From the resultant puckout, Roisin Howard won the ball and found Clodagh McIntyre who added her second point to leave a goal in it in the 53rd minute.

The game ebbed and flowed over the next few minutes before Carrie Dolan extended Galway’s lead again in the 58th minute.

Caoimhe Stakelum hit another superb score in added time to leave three in it again, but Galway would go straight down the other end and once again Dolan found the target with a fine finish, with the games final score as Galway ran out victors by four points to earn their first victory of the campaign.

They join Tipp on two points on the table along with Cork and Antrim, all four chasing down Waterford and Kilkenny who are in the final berths with two rounds to go.

TEAMS – Tipperary: Aine Slattery (Shannon Rovers 6); Mary Burke (Drom & Inch 7), Mairead Eviston (Drom & Inch 7), Eimear Loughman (Clonoulty/Rossmore 6); Sarah Corcoran (Moycarkey/Borris 6), Caoimhe McCarthy (Knockavilla-D Kickhams, Capt 7), Celine Guinan (Shannon Rovers 8); Karen Kennedy (Thurles Sarsfields 6), Caoimhe Maher (Burgess/Duharra 6); Aoife Dwyer (Thurles Sarsfields 7), Amy Quinlisk (Kilruane MacDonaghs 7), Clodagh McIntyre (Lorrha 7); Caoimhe Stakelum (Thurles Sarsfields 6), Eimear McGrath (Drom & Inch 8), Grace O’Brien (Nenagh Eire Og 6).

Subs: Isobel O’Donnell (Brian Borus 6) for Burke (45); Roisin Howard (Cahir 7) for Maher (45); Eimear Heffernan (Knockavilla-D Kickhams 6) for Dwyer (54); Emma Carey (Thurles Sarsfields NR) for Corcoran (57); Niamh Treacy (Drom & Inch NR) for O’Brien (59).

Galway: Sarah Healy (7); Rachael Hanniffy (6), Roisin Black (7), Dervla Higgins (7), Kate Manning (7), Ciara Hickey (8), Katie Anna Porter (7), Jennifer Hughes (6), Carrie Dolan (8), Niamh Mallon (8), Niamh McPeake (6), Aoife Donohoe (7), Shannon Corcoran (7), Niamh Niland (7), Caoimhe Kelly (6).

Subs: Kayla Madden (6) for Niland (54); Mairead Dillon (6) for Kelly (54); Ava Crowe (NR) for Porter (60); Tegan Canning (NR) for Corcoran (60).

Referee: Liz Dempsey (Kilkenny).