Ciara O’Connor shines as Wexford produce impressive fightback to draw with Kilkenny

Ciara O’Connor was finding it hard to make sense of it all, after powering Wexford to a thrilling fightback to secure a 1-17 to 3-11 draw against All-Ireland champions Kilkenny in the first round of the Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship (Group 2) on Saturday. O’Connor’s brilliant injury-time score levelled up the scores before full-time, one of nine points she contributed.

That arrived as the clock moved into the seventh minute of additional time, and six minutes after early second-half sub Áine Lacey had flicked an airborne sliotar from a seemingly impossible position to the far corner of the Kilkenny net.

Earlier in the tie, Denise Gaule, Katie Power and Katie Nolan had put Kilkenny in a decent position when pointing in response to Shelley Kehoe’s early goal for Wexford and O’Connor’s outstanding two-point sideline.

Julianne Malone had the sliotar in the net 40 seconds into the second half, and Brian Dowling’s side looked to be coasting as points from Aoife Doyle, her sister Kellyann and Gaule put them ten clear, but a Linda Bolger goal breathed life into Wexford and given their dominance in the final quarter, a share of the spoils was deserved.

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“I don’t even know where to start,” said O’Connor, who was named player of the match in her first outing after a six-week absence with a knee injury.

“I suppose Kilkenny, coming up to their back garden was always going to be a tough game. Given the history that team has had over the last few years as well, it was always gonna be a battle. But we knew it was like any game, any opposition, you focus on your own game plan and believe in our players and believe in our back room team and that’s what we did.

“Wexford camogie hasn’t really been there or thereabouts. It’s been development so far and this is a step in the right direction.”

Such is the rarity of sideline scores in camogie, that there was some confusion about the umpire’s signal for a two-point score.

“I thought he was waving it wide so I kinda went a bit ballistic but the ref informed me it was the two points,” said O’Connor, laughing. “I suppose when you’re practising it you hope it will come up in game time and you get to show what you can do and thankfully it went over.”

Manager Dowling gave credit to Wexford but was unhappy with his players’ fade out.

“We’re very disappointed,” the Kilkenny manager admitted. “I think we went 10 up at one stage and looked like we were in complete control. We totally took our foot off the gas and in fairness to Wexford they kept plugging away. We knew coming in they were a very good team and the girls were focused on it but I don’t know what happened there in the last 15 minutes, very disappointing on our part.

“Wexford probably shut us down in the half-back line, midfield area. I thought they got on top there in the last 15 minutes and they won most of the rucks, which was very disappointing.”

The Cats now travel to Dublin the weekend after next for a repeat of the Leinster final.

Wexford boss, Colin Sunderland was delighted, though he emphasised the importance of the upcoming encounters, starting with another crunch clash at home to Tipperary. Tipp were convincing 2-19 to 1-6 winners over the Dubs at The Ragg.

“I thought the first half was a little bit scrappy from our own point of view,” Sunderland noted. “Belief is a big thing in these girls. Just getting the belief going that they’re up there at this level.

“We referenced it at half-time. ‘Does anybody feel out of their depth here, that shouldn’t be here?’ Because it hasn’t been going great the last few years. We were off the charts altogether a few years ago at the bottom. In fairness, the last few years (under Kevin Tattan) they built back up.

“I thought five or six minutes into the second half, we’d undone all our good work in the first half. But it’s funny, one thing we’ve referenced over the last few weeks is the Leinster hurling championship, Munster hurling championship, Wexford (hurlers against Westmeath and Kilkenny), ten points is nothing any more. If you’re ten points up or down, keep going to the end because it’s always there.

“But it’s important to remember we didn’t win the game, it’s still only a draw so we still need a couple of wins.

“It’s a definite boost but the one thing we commented on last Thursday night after our last training session is we’re back in on Tuesday night and whether we’re coming off a high or we’re coming off a low, we have to refocus. There’s no breaks here, we’re straight back into and will hopefully switch on and unless we can go and give a performance against Tipperary, today is worth nothing.”

Cáit Devane scored a goal in either half as she built up a tally of 2-6, while Eimear McGrath contributed five points as Tipperary continued the form they showed in winning the Munster Championship with a comfortable triumph over a Dublin team that had fallen just short against Kilkenny in the Leinster decider.

It was all over at half-time, as Tipp led 1-12 to 0-2. To make matters worse for Dublin, substitute Issy Davis only – recently returned from a long-term knee injury – had to leave the fray nine minutes after her introduction after receiving lengthy treatment to the same knee.

“It was a tough battle,” Tipp goalie, Caoimhe Bourke declared. “It’s always hard playing Dublin. It was a bit free-flowing in the first half and we had the wind. They got on top of us in the second half, so we’re disappointed a bit with the second half, the first 15 minutes, but we pushed on again to finish out, and got a nice few subs on as well and game time into everyone. So a good start and a good win and plenty to work on.

“Only having to play three matches, it could be a very short year so to get a win was great. It was brilliant to win the Munster but it was no good really if we weren’t setting the standards higher again. And that was shown in training. It pushed on even higher to try reach new levels and try reach where we have not got, for most of the players.”

Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship Group 2

Kilkenny 1-17 Wexford 3-11

Tipperary 2-19 Dublin 1-6