Clare out of camogie championship

Kilkenny 2-15   Clare 2-8

Clare’s hopes of reaching the concluding stages of the All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship were dashed with a loss to Kilkenny in round five at Nowlan Park on Saturday.
It was a must-win game for Clare to remain in contention for at least a play-off place and for Kilkenny to secure a semi-final spot. For 58 minutes, the outcome was in doubt but in the end Kilkenny upped the ante and a goal in the 59th minute decided the game.
Kilkenny opened the scoring with a point inside the opening minute before Clare were awarded a free following a foul on Chloe Morey by Kilkenny’s Aoife Neary. Morey dropped her shot into the square and Naomi Carroll was on hand to finish to the net.
Kilkenny responded with four points to go back in front by two. Then another Morey free dropped dangerously into the Kilkenny square but Clare were guilty of fouling and the resulting shot down the wing saw Áine Fahey win the tussle with Aisling Hannon. She raced towards the Clare goal, before slamming her shot past Susan Vaughan.
Clare rallied and a brace of frees from McMahon saw them within three points of Kilkenny. Neary and McMahon both pointed frees in the next five minutes before Morey was again on hand to drive in a long-range free from 70 yards, which sailed over the heads of the Kilkenny defence to the top corner of the net, levelling the game.
McMahon pointed another free in the 32nd minute to send Clare in at the break ahead by the minimum margin. Kilkenny manager Ann Downey had a lot to say to her charges during the half-time break as she kept them in the dressing for 15 minutes. They had a brace of points in the opening minutes of the second half to go back in front.
Fiona Lafferty’s sideline cut in the 35th dropped into the square but the Kilkenny defence cleared the danger before Deirdre Murphy got the ball out to Fiona Lafferty for Clare to level again.
Both sides traded points for the next 10 minutes and Kilkenny were finding it difficult to shake of the challenge of a determined Clare side.
Neary pointed two frees in the 53rd and 58th minutes respectively and Kilkenny held a three-point advantage entering the closing minutes.
However, a Kilkenny victory was assured with 30 seconds of normal time remaining as a long-range Kilkenny free, won by Aisling Dunphy, was driven in the direction of substitute Lizzie Lyng, who passed to Marie Dargan. Dargan found space but her attempted goal-shot took a deflection off the stick of a Clare defender, before substitute Grace Walsh, pulled on the rebound to provide the finishing touch. Denise Gaule concluded the scoring with a point in the 63rd minute to leave Kilkenny the winners, 2-15 to 2-8.

Clare: Susan Vaughan; Kate Lynch, Siobhan Lafferty, Aisling Hannon; Ruth Kaiser, Chloë Morey (1-1), Róisín McMahon; Fiona Lafferty (0-1), Sinead O’Loughlin; Áine O’Brien, Deirdre Murphy, Shónagh Enright; Claire McMahon (0-6), Mairéad Scanlon, Naomi Carroll (1-0).
Subs: Patricia O’Loughlin for Áine O’Brien (58 min).

Kilkenny: Catriona Ryan; Colette Dormer, Catherine Doherty, Jacqui Frisby; Claire Phelan, Edwina Keane, Elaine Alyward; Aisling Dunphy, Ann Dalton (0-1); Aoife Neary (0-5, 4f), Edel Maher, Denise Gaule (0-6), Áine Fahey (1-0), Michelle Quilty (0-3), Shelly Farrell.
Subs: Keeva Fennely for Keane (43 min), Grace Walsh (1-0) for Fahey, Marie Dargan for Maher (51 min), Lizzie Lyng for Farrell, (55 min) and Kelly Hamilton for Dunphy (60 min).

Referee: Karl O’Brien, Dublin.