Heartache continues for Tipperary, who come up short in semi-final against Galway yet again

Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship semi-final

Tipperary 1-11

Galway 1-18

The Tipperary senior camogie team’s semi-final hoodoo continued unabated in UPMC Nowlan Park, Kilkenny, on Saturday afternoon as Denis Kelly’s charges fell short in the last four for the seventh time in eight attempts to a more clinical Galway side.

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Scoring acumen was the big difference between the sides in looking through the overall cause of another Tipperary defeat at this stage, and if we are being honest, they were second best by a considerable distance, with the seven-point margin a favourable reflection on what unfolded.

Tipperary scored only 1-3 from play in this game, with Karen Kennedy’s first-half goal coming with a massive slice of luck, and when you compare it with Galway’s total of 1-13, there lay the big shortcoming.

It was tough viewing in general in the first quarter of the game, but particularly so for those in UPMC Nowlan Park of a Tipperary persuasion, with Galway the better team once the game started.

Both teams deployed the sweeper, with Mairead Eviston and Ciara Hickey as the extra defenders at both ends. From the start, the game became a scrappy, defensively dominant first half, with Carrie Dolan and Grace O’Brien trading frees at 0-1 apiece after eight minutes.

Tipperary were incredibly sloppy on the ball in the first half and with Galway physically dominating the exchanges, the Tribeswomen began to find their feet up front with Carrie Dolan hitting a second free before the first scores from play came from Mairead Dillon and Ailish O’Reilly to put Galway 0-4 to 0-1 to the good after 12 minutes.

Those concessions were directly due to Tipperary handling errors as they short-punted out of the defence, and the running attempts through the lines were being snuffed out through hard Galway tackling and poor touches from the Premier.

Some poor shot selections - and shooting in general - were eating into the Tipp morale, and it was the 14th minute before Tipp’s second score came through another O’Brien free.

A further blow came for Tipp on the stroke of the 15th minute when some poor play from Mairead Eviston led to a Galway turnover on the 45 with the maroon outfit pinching possession for Ailish O’Reilly to slot over off the back foot, but that score was the least of the worries.

During that play, full-back Karin Blair hit the ground, raising concerns for the medical team. After an eight-minute delay, she was stretchered off the pitch, but thankfully, she managed to walk into the dressing room under her own steam at the break.

The stoppage would have been welcomed by Tipp management as it allowed Denis Kelly and his selectors to get some messages to the player; but it didn’t turn out to be too useful in the following minutes after the resumption with Galway picking off three points in as many minutes with Caoimhe Kelly, Carrie Dolan, and Niamh Mallon picking off scores from play to open a 0-8 to 0-2 lead.

Taking on water now and with the demons of previous semi-final losses starting to fester, Tipperary needed something, and it came after 26 minutes with a fortuitous pointed effort from Karen Kennedy dropping short and landing into the back of the net past Sarah Healy. 

That was Tipperary’s first score from play, and a badly needed boost that they built on for the remainder of the half. Eight minutes of additional time were added, and despite Carrie Dolan pointing a free a few minutes after that goal, Tipp finished the half strongly with Eimear Heffernan, Casey Hennessy, and two Grace O’Brien frees levelling the game by the half-time whistle at 0-9 to 1-6. Somehow, Tipp were level and had it all to play for with the second half to come.

The hope from a Tipperary viewpoint was that the spark would eventually ignite the team’s performance levels from the restart, and they began the second half positively with Karen Kennedy pointing brilliantly in between two Galway points to keep them interested in the contest.

However, Galway struck a significant blow in the 39th minute with the experienced vision of Ailish O’Reilly picking out a classy stick pass to Niamh Mallon in behind the Tipperary cover, as the Down woman sauntered in on goal and flashed her effort to the top right-hand corner.

That put Galway into a 1-11 to 1-7 lead, and while Tipp reduced the gap to three soon after through a Grace O’Brien free, it turned out to be as close as they would come to the Tribsewomen by full-time.

The experienced heads of Galway took control of the contest with Carrie Dolan, Niamh Mallon, Aoife Donohue, and the excellent Ailish O’Reilly putting on a show of scoring-taking in the next 15 minutes as they opened a 1-17 to 1-10 lead by the 53rd minute; Tipperary having no response to the Galway class and workrate.

Tipperary went for goals in the final seven minutes plus stoppage time, but despite Roisin Howard and Grace O’Brien getting glimpses of the goals, they were rebuffed by the stubborn Galway defence on each occasion.

The main source of scores for Tipperary were Grace O’Brien frees and a brilliantly taken Jean Kelly score, but it was never going to be enough to dispose of Galway, who fittingly wrapped up the result with the final score of the game through the Player of the Match, Ailish O’Reilly, who slotted her fifth point.

A tough one to take for Tipperary, after coming up short in the semi-final yet again. They gave it their all, but with Eimear McGrath (injured), Cait Devane (retired) out of the team from previous years, they simply didn’t have the attacking prowess to trouble Galway, who had far more threat at the other end of the pitch.

For now, the wait goes on for Tipperary camogie to appear in a first All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship final since 2006.

Scorers: Tipperary: Grace O’Brien 0-7f, Karen Kennedy 1-1, Casey Hennessy, Jean Kelly 0-1 each, Eimear Heffernan 0-1f.

Galway: Carrie Dolan (0-6, 0-5f), Ailish O’Reilly 0-5, Niamh Mallon 1-2, Caoimhe Kelly, Mairead Dillon 0-2 each, Aoife Donohue 0-1.

Tipperary: Laura Leenane (Shannon Rovers); Julieanne Bourke (Borris-Ileigh), Karin Blair (Cashel King Cormacs), Eimear Loughman (Clonoulty Rossmore); Caoimhe McCarthy (Knockavilla Kickhams), Mairead Eviston (Drom & Inch), Sarah Corcoran (Moycarkey Borris); Caoimhe Maher (Burgess Duharra), Karen Kennedy (Thurles Sarsfields); Eimear Heffernan (Knockavilla Kickhams), Roisin Howard (Cahir), Mary Burke (Drom & Inch); Clodagh McIntyre (Lorrha), Casey Hennessy (Clonoulty Rossmore), Grace O’Brien (Nenagh Éire Óg).

Subs used: Emma Carey (Thurles Sarsfields) for Blair (20, inj); Jean Kelly (Éire Óg Annacarty) for Burke (44); Aoife McGrath (Drom & Inch) for C Maher (56).

Galway: Sarah Healy; Shauna Healy, Roisin Black, Dervla Higgins; Ciara Hickey, Emma Helebert, Anne Marie Starr; Rachael Hanniffy, Carrie Dolan; Niamh Mallon, Olwyn Rabbitte, Aoife Donohue; Mairead Dillon, Ailish O’Reilly, Caoimhe Kelly.

Subs used: Siobhan Gardiner for Helebert (43); Sabina Rabbitte for Dillon (52); Ally Hesnan for Starr (52); Jennifer Hughes for Rabbitte (61); Niamh Niland for Kelly (61).

Referee: Justin Heffernan (Wexford)

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