Tipperary end 15-year famine to set up League Division 1A camogie final clash with Galway

Tipperary will end a 15-year wait to appear in a national senior camogie final when they line out against Galway in the Very Camogie League Division 1A decider at Croke Park on Sunday April 14.

Denis Kelly’s charges accounted for Clare by 4-19 to 0-7 at Cusack Park, Ennis to confirm their qualification as table toppers on score difference. And with Galway getting the better of All-Ireland champions Cork by 0-14 to 0-9 at Duggan Park, the Tribeswomen are 70 minutes or so from joining an elite crop of teams to garner top division honours for a third season on the trot.

Tipp have had a number of agonising reverses when closing in on a return to the big stage but with a youthful Clare side losing their four games to this juncture, anything but a victory for the visitors would have been a huge shock.

And that was how events unfolded, with first half goals from Grace O’Brien and Karen Kennedy putting the issue to bed by the interval, at which stage the blue and golds held sway by 2-8 to 0-3.

It was one-way traffic in the second half, as Tipp played with freedom. Eimear Heffernan raised another green flag before O’Brien nabbed her second major. Thus ends a famine since the county’s representatives lost the league final in 2009, despite the best efforts of future All-Star Mary Ryan, who made her first appearance of the season after illness and remains an integral part of the panel this term.

The result confirmed Clare’s relegation to Division 1B.