All-Ireland camogie semi-finals preview: Galway v Tipperary, Cork v Waterford

Galway will face Tipperary, and Cork will go up against Waterford in the Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship semi-finals.

The two matches will take place on Saturday, with Galway v Tipperary starting at 3pm and Cork v Waterford getting underway afterwards at 5pm.

Galway will be looking for a repeat of last year’s tumultuous semi-final, in which they snatched the pass to an All-Ireland final from Tipperary’s grasp in dramatic fashion.

Galway scored the last three points including Carrie Dolan’s injury time winner, having fallen two behind in the 56th minute.

Both sides have lost players for a variety of reasons since, but the cruciate injuries suffered by Eimear McGrath and Clodagh Quirke appear particularly cataclysmic blows to the blue and gold, following the retirements of Cáit Devane, Mary Ryan, and Nicole Walsh.

Galway are sans Niamh Kilkenny and Áine Keane among others, but have Shauna Healy and Emma Helebert back, they appear to be in better form than they were this time 12 months ago, albeit they seemed to time things almost perfectly in that regard when pushing Cork all the way in the resultant final.

The Rebels steamrolled them in the League final but since then, Cathal Murray’s charges won their group, scoring the last six points against Waterford when the sides had been level with a little more than four minutes of normal time remaining in the last tie.

Niamh Mallon and Dalton have been their primary scorers, while a defence of Healy, Helebert, Dervla Higgins and Róisín Black look solid.

Tipp were beaten by 18 points by Cork in their opener but bounced back with facile victories over Wexford, Limerick and Clare, racking up 11-62 in the process, at an average of more than 3-22 a game. Clare