Cork and Tipperary advance to camogie semi-finals

Cork 3-15 Clare 0-8

Tipperary 1-12 Waterford 0-10

The verdict was in doubt until the last 15 minutes, including injury time, but in the end Cork profited from their endeavours up to that juncture to pull away from Clare in their Liberty Insurance All-Ireland senior camogie championship quarter-final on Saturday for an ultimately comfortable 3-15 to 0-8 win.

That sets up another mouth-watering clash with old rivals Kilkenny, this time in the semi-final back at Páirc Uí Chaoimh on November 28th.

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While much of the post-match commentary centred on Clare's excellence in the first half, and perhaps in conjunction with that, a perceived failure on Cork's part to hit the right notes, victorious manager Paudie Murray illustrated his satisfaction with how his players performed to lead by 0-7 to 0-6 at the interval.

“The wind was gale force,” said Murray. “[A point] up at half time, you’d take it any day of the week. I thought our first half was very good. We probably should have been up a couple of more scores. But I was very happy with it.

“At half time we just told them to continue what they were doing because to us they were playing well. Just keep the tempo high.”

Enthusiastic

Meanwhile, Tipperary manager Bill Mullaney was understandably enthusiastic about the grit illustrated by his team to secure a deserved 1-12 to 0-10 victory over Waterford in appalling weather at Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Saturday, and set up a semi-final with champions Galway.

There was disappointment, however, for his Waterford counterpart Fergal O’Brien, who felt his players had not given a true reflection of their capabilities, especially in the second half when Tipp found another grade of intensity.

Waterford scored three of the last four points into the teeth of the gale to go in at half time trailing 0-8 to 0-6 but they never got any closer.

Cáit Devane shot seven points overall, and Nicole Walsh, airlifted off the field when the teams met last year, struck two crucial scores into the wind in the second half as the winners always had their noses in front.

“We always knew it was going to be a battle,” said Mullaney. “The conditions were just another thing you have to get over. Credit to the girls, they did all the work. They did everything they were asked and more. Played brilliantly, worked really hard and into another semi-final.

“We over-analyse some of these things. ‘we need more’, and ‘a wind never wins anything’; GAA can be a lot of cliches as well. We were two points up [at half time], so we were leading. We knew the second half, like the first half, would be a battle, and the girls stepped up, and did their jobs and got the result.

“I thought the work rate went up another level to be fair. The girls really lifted it on the field. They were organised. The communication between them all was excellent, and the subs that came on were excellent as well, and really added to it, that we could maintain the high intensity and high work rate all over the field.”