Cork 0-14   Clare 0-11 AET

A valiant effort from Clare to qualify for a first ever National Camogie League Division 1 final just failed at Kilmallock on Sunday.

Extra time was required before the title-holders, Cork, took a step closer to retaining the title.

In the end, the greater experience and physical presence of the Rebelettes proved decisive on a day when inconsistent decision making by the match official, Ger O’Dowd from Limerick, didn’t endear him to the Clare followers in the disappointing attendance.

Among the decisions that Clare will point to was when, nine minutes into the second half, after consultation with the umpires, a wide was signalled despite claims from Clare that Maire McGrath’s effort was between the uprights.

One umpire seemed to be indicating that the ball had gone over the bar. Clare players argued that McGrath’s effort was between the uprights, while Cork argued to the contrary. Eventually, after the referee spoke with the umpires, the signal was that the ball was wide.

Cork played with the aid of the breeze in the opening half and, after the teams had swapped points, they hit four-in-a-row by the 13th minute. Pointed frees by Claire McMahon and Chloe Morey kept Clare in touch and they were in a good position at the break, when the score stood at 0-8 to 0-4 in Cork’s favour.

Cork had the opening score of the second half but then Clare got a grip in a number of areas and two converted Claire McMahon frees had the margin down to three, entering the final quarter.

The Banner side was dictating the play at this stage but were guilty of a few bad misses that proved costly later.

Six minutes from time, Naomi Carroll forced a fine save from Cork goalie Aoife Murray. A minute later, McMahon converted another Clare free and the margin was down to two.

The defending champions were under huge pressure at this stage and three minutes from time only a point separated the teams after Deirdre Murphy pointed.

To the delight of the Clare followers, the experienced Clooney-Quin player tied up the tie with two minutes still to play with another excellent score.

In the remaining time, both sides battled for the winner but the respective defences held firm and the score stayed at 0-9 each.

For extra time, Cork opted to play against the breeze in the first period, having won the toss. Points were swapped twice and on the changeover, they were still level with the score now at 0-11 each.

The opening five minutes of the final period was scoreless but Cork took the lead through Orla Cotter, from a 30m free. Despite Clare’s best efforts, they added two more to emerge with a three-point win and a place in the final against Wexford.

There has been little between these sides throughout the past two years and with a Munster championship clash scheduled for a Cork venue on May 12, camogie followers can look forward to another close contest.

Orla Cotter, Briege Corkery and Síle Burns were prominent throughout for the winners in this latest clash.
Katie Cahill excelled in defence for Clare while, elsewhere, Denise Lynch, Laura McMahon, Marian O’Brien, Maire McGrath and Deirdre Murphy impressed.

Cork: Aoife Murray; Pamela Mackey, Marie Walsh, Lynca O’Connell; Denise Cronin, Rena Buckley, Anna Geary; Orla Cotter, Aisling Thompson; Julia Whyte, Briege Corkery, Eimear O’Sullivan; Síle Burns, Aoife Deasy, Katrina Mackey.
Subs: Finola Neville for Deasy.
Scorers: Orla Cotter (0-6, 4f), Síle Burns (0-3), Aoife Deasy, Eimear O’Sullivan, Katrina Mackey, Briege Corkery and Finola Neville (0-1 each).
Clare: Denise Lynch (Kilmaley, capt); Laura McMahon (Newmarket), Marian O’Brien (Scariff-Ogonnelloe), Carol O’Leary (Newmarket); Katie Cahill (Kilmaley), Chloe Morey (Sixmilebridge), Róisín McMahon (Newmarket); Niamh O’Dea (Kilmaley), Maire McGrath (Sixmilebridge); Fiona Lafferty (Inagh-Kilnamona), Kate Lynch (Kilkishen), Orlaith Duggan (Clooney-Quin); Naomi Carroll (Sixmilebridge), Claire McMahon (Kilmaley), Deirdre Murphy (Clooney-Quin).
Subs: Susan Vaughan (Scariff-Ogonnelloe) for Lynch, Eimear Considine (Kilmaley) for R McMahon; Sinéad O’Loughlin (Inagh-Kilnamona) for O’Leary.
Scorers: Claire McMahon (0-5f), Chloe Morey (frees) Deirdre Murphy (0-2 each) Niamh O’Dea, Naomi Carroll (0-1 each).
Referee: Ger O’Dowd, Limerick.

 

Toss of a coin may have been decisive

Clare manager John Carmody, while disappointed with the end result, was pleased with the Clare performance in Kilmallock on Sunday but believes his charges are “a match for the best”.

“It was anyone’s game. We turned them over in the Munster final last year and they turned us over today,” he said shortly after the final whistle.

Asked where he thought the difference was on the day, he replied, “we put so much into the second half fighting back that we couldn’t capitalise when we had the breeze in the first half of extra time. Winning the toss for extra time was probably a deciding factor”.

While he wanted to focus on the performance of the players, he admitted that Clare would have a gripe with some decisions by the referee, especially the first one in extra time.

“It was a very soft free,” he said, “and it gave them momentum and they pushed on. He was inconsistent. We didn’t seem to get the frees when our players were shoved and they got the frees with limited contact. But look, I don’t want to talk about frees, I want to talk about the team,” the Kilmaley man said.

“Today is only the National League semi-final. Our girls gave a fantastic performance. It’s a gauge of where the team is at. We were very unlucky not to come away with the win. Cork believe they have their name on the O’Duffy Cup (All-Ireland championship) this year. Our girls can take heart from this,” the Clare manager continued.

Asked what pleased him most about the performance, he replied, “the character of the girls when they were five points down midway through the second half. They kept at it and got some quality scores in normal time. That really pleased me, they kept going right to the end. Cork got the breaks.”

“You saw what being league champions meant to Cork today. We are Munster champions and hopefully our girls will show the same character and the same value in the cup when we travel to Cork to play them in the championship in three weeks’ time.

“We are looking forward to playing them again. Any camogie player, or hurler for that matter, worth their salt wants to play at this level. We showed today that our girls are a match for anything in the country. Unfortunately, we are on the losing side today,” he concluded.