The Tipperary minor train rolls on with defeat of Galway in second round championship tie

Electric Ireland Minor A All-Ireland Championship - Round 2

Galway 1-10

Tipperary 0-18

Tipperary recorded their second successive win in the Electric Ireland Minor A All-Ireland Championship on Sunday with an impressive five-point win over Galway in Loughrea. John Ryan’s team trailed 1-5 to 0-7 at the break but a superb second-half performance saw them outscore Galway 0-11 to 0-5 to secure a well-deserved victory. 

The first half was closely contested. Lucy Purcell got Tipp’s opening score after four minutes but this was quickly cancelled out by two Galway points from Caoimhe Kelly and Leah O’Halloran, Caoimhe Stakelum, and Caoimhe Kelly exchanged frees before Galway opened up a lead thanks to a Caoimhe Kelly penalty. 

Galway were awarded two penalties in the opening half one of which was well saved by Danielle Butler in the Tipperary goals. Further points by the excellent Stakelum and Kelly meant only one point separated the sides at the break with Galway leading 1-5 to 0-7. 

Kelly added to her tally straight from the restart with another well-taken free but a Ciara Shelly point a moment later ignited Tipperary and they got the next three points in a row from Danielle Ryan (2) and Lucy Purcell. 

This gave Tipperary the lead 1-6 to 0-11 but Galway were soon level thanks to Caoimhe Kelly and Ellen Birmingham points. Huge work throughout by the visitors saw them hit the lead again with Caoimhe Stakelum and Lucy Heffernan on target. 

Stakelum and Kelly continued to display some excellent free-taking skills to keep the scoreboard ticking while Leah Behan also chipped in with a point for Galway to leave just two between the sides in the 59th minute 1-10 to 0-15. 

Galway failed to score again however while Tipperary put in a really strong final few minutes earning two frees and a 45m. Thurles Sarsfields Caoimhe Stakelum nailed all three to make it a five-point win for the Premier.

Tipperary: Danielle Butler; Ellie Franklin, Aoife Mellerick, Paula Quirke; Eabha Dolan, Sarah Corcoran, Caithlyn Treacy; Aine Dooley Ciara Shelly (0-1); Lucy Purcell (0-2), Danielle Ryan (0-2), Lucy Heffernan (0-1); Ava Bevans (0-1), Caoimhe Stakelum (0-11, 0-6f, 0-1 45), Hannah Butler.

Subs used: Elana McGrath for Eabha Dolan (inj); Eimhear Troy for Ava Bevans; Aoife Fitzgerald for Hannah Butler.

Referee: Ciaran Goff (Wicklow)