Injury breaks Clare’s momentum

Tipperary 7-10   Clare 2-10

Played in the Ragg on Sunday, the final scoreline does not reflect fairly on a Clare side who throughout an intense encounter with the current Munster U-16 camogie champions never gave up.

Tipperary’s Róisín Howard had 1-1 on the board in the opening minutes before Clare’s Aoibheann Malone got the visitors on the scoreboard with a well-struck point from 30 yards. Sinéad Buckley struck for the home side’s second goal in the sixth minute, having run through from midfield.

Howard added a point before Clare’s Emma O’Connell raised a green flag, having repeated Howard’s move of a few minutes earlier. The winners responded with their third goal, before Regan Conway and Aoibheann Malone both pointed for Clare. Niamh Treacy converted two frees for the home side before Conway split the posts for Clare.

Tipperary were denied twice in the closing stages by Clare goalie Deirdre Cotter, who pulled off a point-blank save and then got to the rebounding shot before Clare moved play to the other end of the field, where they succeeded in raising a green flag, Caoimhe Hoey finishing to the net with a hand pass to leave Tipperary ahead, 3-4 to 2-4, at the break.

Tipperary added 1-2 to their tally on the restart, before Conway had two more for Clare. Malone and O’Connell added two points for Clare to have the deficit back to five with 15 minutes remaining. With Clare upping the ante and moving into Tipperary territory, an aerial clash on the 21-yard line saw Clare lose Hoey through injury.

Following a lengthy stoppage required for the youngster to receive medical attention, play was resumed. However, the Clare outfit were unable to regain the momentum they had been building and it was Tipperary who finished out the half the stronger, adding 3-3 to Clare’s two points and running out winners on a flattering scoreline.

Tipperary: Caoimhe Burke; Kate Cashman, Rachel Maher, Carol Casey; Karen Fox, Lorna O’Dwyer, Eimear Loughman; Ciardha Maher, Courtney Ryan; Róisín Howard, Sinéad Buckley, Róisín Cahill; Miriam Campion, Niamh Treacy, Nicole Shelly.
Scorers: R Howard and N Treacy (2-3 each), S Buckley (1-3), M Campion and R Cahill (1-0 each) and G O’Brien (0-1).
Clare: Deirdre Cotter (Kilkishen); Clare Hehir (Inagh-Kilnamona), Aoife Keane (Inagh-Kilnamona), Ashling McMahon (St Joseph’s); Aoife Tuohy (Feakle), Ria Flanagan (Ballyea), Saoirse Glynn (Kilmaley); Keelin Lyons (Sixmilebridge), Niamh Whyte (Sixmilebridge); Louise Browne (Corofin), Aoibhinn Malone (Corofin), Regan Conway (Feakle); Emma O’Connell (Ballyea), Lauren Tuohy (Clarecastle), Caoimhe Hoey (St Joseph’s).
Subs: Aoibheann Duggan for Whyte, Michelle Dowling for Hoey (inj), Sarah Redmond for Glynn, Carol Browne for A Tuohy and Jessica Leamy for Conway.
Scorers: R Conway (0-5), E O’Connell (1-1), C Hoey (1-0), A Malone (0-3) and L Browne (0-1).