Heartbreaking loss for Tipperary in semi-final to Waterford

Glen Dimplex All Ireland Senior Camogie Championship Semi

Tipperary 1-11

Waterford 1-12

By Thomas Conway

Sometimes, it just doesn't happen for you. Sometimes, you can be on the cusp of victory, on the cusp of history, and then it all comes crashing down. So it was for Tipperary in Nowlan Park last Saturday afternoon.

Denis Kelly’s side worked its way into a winning position midway through the first-half, before surrendering a glorious seven point lead and eventually paying the ultimate price.

It’s cruel, but for Tipperary, it’s the reality. And yet, what ended in a nightmare had begun so well for the Premier County. They raced into an early lead, playing that smooth brand of counter-attacking camogie that has become their trademark in 2023.

Caoimhe Maher got the ball rolling, cascading through the centre on a diagonal run before lofting high and over the crossbar from 25 metres.

Up next was a sumptuous individual effort from Grace O’Brien, who collected a crossfield sideline from the aforementioned Maher and made no mistake with her finish.

Waterford, to their credit, did respond, Abby Flynn inveigling her way through a swarm of blue and gold jerseys before slotting a neat finish from close-range.

But Tipp were in command. Róisín Howard fired off their third and suddenly it felt like things were starting to flow.
Add in a couple of Eimear McGrath frees and Denis Kelly’s side were coasting, leading comfortably, the scoreline at 0-07 to 0-03.

And then the turning point, the golden moment. It had to be Devane who delivered it, who snatched the goal that should have fired Tipp to their first All-Ireland final in seventeen years.

The Clonoulty Rossmore woman slipped clean through the Waterford cover, snapped up a gorgeous handpass from Howard and executed her finish to perfection - a classy strike which had an almost slow-motion quality to it.

There were times when this game felt like utter madness, when the play descended into a series of scraps and the ambience was one of complete, sheer pandemonium.

The chaos suited Waterford. Their goal, clinically dispatched by Mairéad Power in the 24th minute, was a microcosm of the half as a whole.

Tipp had several opportunities to clear the danger while Waterford had several chances to score, and yet neither side could manage to fulfil their objective.

Eventually, after a chaotic scene inside the small square which seemed to drag on for eternity, Power snatched the sliotar and put an end to it. Her finish, mid-height into the far right corner, was cool and composed.

That score launched Waterford back into the game, creating a blockbuster end to the first-half in which the momentum was firmly behind the Déise.

Tipp, let’s remember, were the favourites here. They were the side expected to prevail and secure a first All-Ireland final berth in seventeen years.

They were the team that was meant to challenge and perhaps finally break the dominance of the top three. But the second-half did not go as planned.

Instead, Waterford dug their heels in, becoming increasingly aggressive and starting to win their individual battles in various departments across the field.

Beth Carton was immense. The De Le Salle forward is a romance player, a virtuoso forward who operates in a style not dissimilar from Tipp’s Cáit Devane, and on Saturday she delivered a performance for the ages.

It was Carton, after all, who helped to drag Waterford back into the game in the latter stages of the first-half. It was Carton who hit their equaliser in the 41st minute. It was Carton who slotted the free to edge them ahead some moments later.

And in the dying stages of this game, as the tension swirled and the crowd oohed and aahed at every movement, Carton could be seen tracking back, relentlessly, hunting the ball and haunting the Tipperary players.

There was a sense at that juncture, as the game entered the final stretch, that Waterford were going to win this. The tables had turned. They were now in control, in total command.

Another Carton free pushed them further ahead, and then, in the 56th minute, something momentous happened. Waterford keeper Brianna O’Regan, a player who has been touched by adversity both on and off the field, galloped out to hit a long-range free, positioned some distance behind the Waterford 65. Really and truly she shouldn’t have scored. She shouldn’t have had the range or the accuracy or the sheer audacity to take on the shot. And yet she nailed it, sailing her effort straight between the posts and sending the Waterford crowd into rapturous applause.

Tipp, at that point, were sunk. They battled hard in the final stages, but Waterford defended gallantly, heroically even, and while a late Devane free would reduce the lead to the slimmest of margins, that last, elusive point proved beyond Tipp.

Scorers: Tipperary: Cáit Devane (1-2, 0-2f), Eimear McGrath (0-5f), Caoimhe Maher, Grace O’Brien, Róisín Howard, Karen Kennedy (0-1 each).

Waterford: Beth Carton (0-8, 0-4f), Mairéad Power (1-0), Abby Flynn (0-2), Brianna O’Regan (0-1f), Annie Fitzgerald (0-1).

Tipperary: Áine Slattery; Julieanne Bourke, Mairéad Eviston, Eimear Loughman; Karin Blair, Karen Kennedy, Aoife McGrath; Teresa Ryan, Casey Hennessy; Róisín Howard, Caoimhe Maher, Eimear McGrath; Grace O’Brien, Cáit Devane, Clodagh McIntyre.

Subs used: Caoimhe McCarthy for Blair (36); Clodagh Quirke for Hennessy (39); Niamh Treacy for Eimear McGrath (62).

Waterford: Brianna O’Regan; Vikkie Faulkner, Laoise Forrest, Kate Lynch; Keely Corbett Barry, Clodagh Carroll, Mairéad Power; Orla Hickey, Lorraine Bray; Niamh Rockett, Beth Carton, Abby Flynn; Mairéad O’Brien, Rachael Walsh,, Annie Fitzgerald.

Subs used: Clara Griffin for Walsh (40); Anne Corcoran for O’Brien (51-56), Aoife Landers for Carrol (58), Roisin Kirwan for Griffin (62).

Referee: Liz Dempsey (kilkenny