Camogie League: Galway and Tipp keep pressure on Rebels

Galway and Tipperary joined Cork on top of the Division 1A table of the Very Camogie League as a result of comfortable wins secured over Dublin and Clare respectively.

The Rebels play Kilkenny on Sunday and the pressure has been placed on them by their nearest rivals, with only the top two reaching the final next month.

Galway's defence of their title got off to a very poor start against Tipperary but they have improved in the meantime and would have been expected to get the better of Dublin, who are propping up the table.

They did, by 1-14 to 0-09 at Duggan Park but it was a workmanlike effort, albeit that Dublin deserve credit for making it hard on the hosts and continuing their own improvement under Gerry McQuaid since being blown away by Cork on the opening weekend.

Carrie Dolan has excelled from the start of the season for the Maroons and she provided a goal and ten points to her team's tally on this occasion. The same applies to Aisling Maher in the Sky Blues jersey and the former All-Star shot all bar one point of the Dubs’ tally.

It was 1-10 to 0-05 at half-time, Galway hitting the opening five points of the game in the first nine minutes before Gaby Couch hit the only Dublin point not registered by Maher.

Dolan’s goal arrived at the end of the first quarter and she had 1-06 in the first half alone, including a couple of nice points from play.

Dublin actually drew the second half, with both sets of defences on top apart from the two sharpshooters, who slotted four points apiece.

Tipperary have been tremendous to date, their only reversal being a narrow two-point loss to Cork and they put Clare to the sword at The Ragg. Leading by 0-14 to 0-00 at the interval, they were able to cruise to the finish line for a 1-20 to 0-7