Liberty Insurance All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship semi-finals: Saturday November 28 in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Cork
12.30pm: Cork v Kilkenny
2.15pm: Galway v Tipperary
WITH the finalists already sorted out for the Liberty Insurance Intermediate and Junior finals next week, today’s games in Páirc Uí Chaoimh will sort out who will contest the senior decider a week later.
Cork lost their round-robin group game to All-Ireland champions Galway in Pearse Stadium a few weeks ago but bounced right back to record a comfortable victory over Clare in the quarter-finals a fortnight ago.
They looked to be under a little pressure during the first half of that game, but pulled away impressively during the second half.
That game was played in Páirc Uí Chaoimh and it has to be to their advantage that this semi-final is also a “home” venue for them, even though they tend to play most of their league games at the Cork Camogie Grounds and occasionally in Páirc Uí Rinn.
Kilkenny haven’t hit a sliotar in anger for three weeks now. Indeed they didn’t need to get up to full throttle in topping their group with handy wins over Waterford, Westmeath and Limerick. How well does that prepare them for a tilt at Cork down by the Lee?
Brian Dowling’s start to his tenure as Kilkenny manager wasn’t promising with a heavy 2-17 to 0-9 defeat by Cork in the league followed by two less than convincing wins over Clare and Offaly. But things look to have come together a lot better in the late season championship.
His big name players, Denise Gaule, Miriam Walsh and Aoife Doyle all know where the goals are, but so too do the Cork forwards with Amy O’Connor sparkling in the quarter-final, well supported by the usual suspects of Looney, Sigerson, Cronin and Mackey.
The extra game however will have benefited Cork, but one small play could swing this for or against them.
Galway have to be favourites to win the second game on the double-header – and that despite Tipperary’s Aisling Maloney emerging as the Player of the championship to date.
Maloney missed the 1-12 to 0-10 quarter-final win over Waterford in which there was a solid team performance from Tipp with Cáit Devane and Karen Kennedy leading the charge to the line.
However it is hard to look past the champions Galway, unbeaten this year and arguably stronger than in 2019 with the addition of the McGrath sisters from Sarsfield’s All-Ireland winning club side.
Finally a shout out for Antrim whistler Owen Elliott who takes charge of the opening game.
Verdict: Cork and Galway
