Nancy Murray Cup final: Cavan 2-14 Tyrone 1-3
CAVAN justified their tag of pre-match favourites by pulling away in the last 20 minutes to comfortably collect the Nancy Murray Cup in their first year back after a decade off the county scene.
Manager and Westmeath native Jimmy Greville was delighted with the performance that saw all six starting forwards make the score-sheet.
“We set out to win this competition at the start of the year and we are absolutely delighted (one) that we got the opportunity to play it and (two) that we won it with style.
“Cavan camogie is back on the map and I am so pleased. When I came up to manage Crosserlough a few years ago, I couldn’t work out why there was no inter-county team. There was so much talent around and that has come through over the past few weeks.
“It was a horrible night for camogie. But both teams gave an excellent account of themselves. Tyrone stepped up to the mark and we got a tough game. Anything else now will be a bonus.”
And there could well be more as they progress to take on Roscommon this coming weekend in the Premier Junior semi-final, while beaten finalists Tyrone have a derby game with Armagh.
Ahead by 2-4 to 1-1 after playing against the elements in the opening half, Cavan seemed set to replicate their easy win in the group stages. But Tyrone stepped up a gear and restricted them to just two Orla Smith points in the third quarter. However those two scores just before the water break got Cavan going again and they then shot eight points in a row to seal victory.
The ground work was done in the opening quarter with Shanise Fitzsimons dropping to centre-forward to pick up ball and run at Tyrone. She opened the scoring in the tenth minute and was also involved when Hannah Boylan swivelled for her first goal two minutes later.
Fitzsimons and Orla Smith added points before the water break and Boylan grabbed her second goal on the re-start. However Tyrone hit back immediately with a goal from Ciara McGready and Róisín McErlean added a free.
Indeed the Red Hands could have been closer at the interval as they created other scoring chances, but they also needed Úna McCann to bring off a brilliant save from Ciara Fitzpatrick at the expense of a point to stay in touch.
After weathering the best that Tyrone could throw at them in the third quarter, Cavan opened up over the final 15 minutes with two points from Róisín O’Keefe, one each from Fitzsimons and Smith and then the last four from Sinéad McKenna.
Cavan: L Bambrick, C Fay, L Cahill, C Clarke, E Galligan capt., C Finnegan, N Reilly, J Maguire, Á Finnegan, C Fitzpatrick (0-1), R O’Keefe (0-2), S McKenna (0-4, 2 frees), H Boylan (2-0), S Fitzsimons (0-3), O Smith (0-4).
Subs: L Ellis for C Fitzpatrick (44), R Crowe for C Fay (52), A Coyle for H Boylan (52), Fiona Lynch for S Fitzsimons (57), Á Crowe for C Finnegan (59).
Tyrone: Ú McCann, J Lagan, C Jordan, L Barker, G Rafferty, A Jordan, A Coyle, C Gallagher, R Barker, R Fay (0-1 free), C McGready (1-0), N McNulty, K Cuddy, S Kelly, R McErlean capt (0-2 frees).
Subs: A McDonnell for A Coyle (HT), C Muldoon for L barker (42), A Barrett for G Rafferty (57).
Referee: J Horgan (Cork)
Liberty Insurance All-Ireland Intermediate quarter-finals
Laois 1-10 Kerry 1-6 (AET)
Meath 1-13 Derry 0-8
DERRY could not match their first half performance in Templeport in Sunday’s Liberty Insurance All-Ireland Intermediate quarter-final against Meath and it is the Royals who are in the semi-finals and facing Ulster opposition for the third week running.
After Meath had pulled back to level at 0-6 each at the break, Mary Heggarty put Derry back in front at the start of the second half, but the Oak Leaf ladies only scored once more and fell away as the Royals pushed on.
That was in contrast to the early part of the game when Derry went five points to two up after 22 minutes with a brace from midfielder Áine McAllister and three frees from the stick of Karen Kielt.
At this point the Derry defence was coping well with the pace of Jane Dolan, Leah Dennehy and Amy Gaffney, but all three landed scores in the ten minutes up to the half-way point and the teams turned around level.
After Heggarty had edged Derry ahead once more, Meath were awarded a 35th minute penalty. Although Dolan got just a point from it, Aoife Maguire edged Meath ahead before the killer goal came just a couple of minutes after the second water break.
A long ball over the top found Sinéad Hackett free in behind the defence and she slotted home. From then on, Derry struggled and it was no surprise that Minogue, Dennehy and Dolan added insurance scores to set up a semi-final against Down.
Meanwhile Antrim had to wait just a little longer to find out their opponents as Laois came back from the dead to snatch a draw against reigning Junior champions Kerry in The Ragg, Tipperary.
Kerry made all the running and Laois only registered a goal in the opening half with Kerry ahead 0-5 to 1-0 at the break. When Kerry scored a goal of their own, they looked to be in with a great chance of a shock result. But they didn’t push on and left Laois with a chance of survival.
When it came to extra time, the midlanders pulled away to win by 0-5 to 0-1.
Meath: M Randle, S Payne, C Coffey, L Donoghue, T King, M Clince, C O’Brien, A Slattery, K Troy, A Minogue (0-3), L Dennehy (0-3), M Thynne, S Hackett (1-0), J Dolan (0-5, 3 frees), A Gaffney (0-1)
Subs: A Keogh for A Slattery (HT), A Maguire (0-1) for A Gaffney (39), E Burke for S Payne (51), A McNerney for M Thynne (54), E Leddy for S Hackett (57)
Derry: N McQuillan, R Bradley, J McGuckin, M Kerr; G McNicholl, A Ní Chaiside, O McGuigan, S Kearney, A McAllister (0-3, 1 free), C McEldowney, K Kielt (0-4, 3 frees), D O'Kane, M McNicholl, M Hegarty (0-1), A Shaw
Subs: E McGuigan for M Hegarty (40), S McGill for R Bradley (47), D McGuckin for M McNicholl (55), S Donaghy for K Kielt (55)
Referee: Barry Nea (Westmeath)
Liberty Insurance All-Ireland Senior quarter-finals
Cork 3-15 Clare 0-8
Tipperary 1-12 Waterford 0-10
WHILE Cork always looked the more likely winner in the opening game of the All-Ireland senior camogie quarter-finals in Páirc Uí Chaoímh on Saturday, Clare were in with a chance of an upset until the 61st minute when a turn over right in front of the Cork goals resulted in a breakaway point at the other end for Amy O’Connor to put Cork were 1-11 to 0-8 clear.
It broke the Banner resistance and O’Connor blasted a brace of goals in the concluding stages to stretch the winning margin to 16 points.
The sides were level five times over the course of the first half as Cork went in at half-time leading 0-7 to 0-6. O’Connor set up Katrina Mackey for a goal within seconds of the resumption but Clare hung on until the late burst from O’Connor set Cork up for a semi-final against Kilkenny.
Meanwhile a 42nd minute goal by Karen Kennedy helped Tipperary seal a semi-final spot with champions Galway on November 28th.
Tipperary were without the suspended Aisling Moloney and former skipper Orla O’Dwyer, who departed for Australia to take up AFLW duties, but they went in at the break with a lead of 0-8 to 0-6. Tipp then found another level in the second half with Cáit Devane landing a huge free from nearly 65m into the wind.
Kennedy’s goal, after she beat the Waterford goalie Brianna O’Regan to the sliotar and slid it home, was the critical score, opening a six points lead and Devane made sure they maintained that distance.
Cork: A O’Connor (2-1), K Mackey (1-3), O Cronin (0-6, 3 frees), L Collins, S McCarthy, C Healy, H Looney (0-1 each), C Sigerson (0-1 free).
Clare: C Morey (0-4 frees); E Kelly, A O’Loughlin (0-2 each)
Tipperary: C Devane (0-7, 5 frees), K Kennedy (1-0), N Walsh (0-2), N Treacy, M Campion, G O’Brien (0-1 each)
Waterford: B Carton (0-5, 3 frees), N Rockett, A Flynn (0-2 each), S Lacey (0-1)
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