Very Camogie League wrap: Galway squeeze into final
A 48th-minute goal by ace poacher Ailish O'Reilly turned the Very Camogie League Division 1A tie between Cork and Galway on its head, propelling the visitors to a 1-11 to 1-10 victory at Páirc Uí Chaoimh that rubber-stamped the champions’ place in the final against the Rebels in two weeks.
Cathal Murray’s outfit were given a chance as two injury-time points by Kilkenny’s Denise Gaule consigned Tipperary to a 0-14 to 0-13 loss to at UPMC Nowlan Park yesterday.
Had the Premier County won, Galway would have needed a mathematical miracle to advance. Due to that result, a draw was sufficient but they were able to inflict a first reverse of the campaign on Cork.
With the two teams scheduled to kickstart the championship in the first round, they will be very well acquainted by the first week in June.
Galway supporters got an early boost when much like Dublin footballers and Stephen Cluxton, they saw two-time All-Ireland-winning captain and seven-time All-Star, Sarah Dervan arriving with the squad.
The visitors’ greater need was evident for most of the first half. Yet despite their dominance for 20 minutes or so, they only went in at the break level on 0-6 apiece, as the Rebels managed to reset and find a completely different level of workrate and intensity in the closing 15.
Carrie Dolan and Amy O’Connor have been their teams’ leading scorers and they exchanged early points but it was the former who had far more of a say, as Cork were unable to get their talisman into the game at all and on the rare occasion the sliotar did go somewhere in her vicinity, the likes of Rachel Hanniffy, Shauna Healy and Róisín Black were commanding.
Less than 24 hours after scoring a goal for the footballers in their win over All-Ireland champions Meath,