All-Ireland Minor A Camogie Championship Final Replay – Tipperary 4-9 Galway 2-6

Tipperary defeated Galway by 4-9 to 2-6 in the All-Ireland Minor A Camogie Championship Final Replay on Saturday April 30th at St. Brendan’s Park Birr.

Tipp make no mistake second time around

Tipperary 4-9 Galway 2-6

Report by Daragh Ó Conchúir

Having been nabbed at the death in last week’s drawn encounter, Tipperary made sure to leave nothing to chance with a nine-point win in the All-Ireland minor A final replay at St Brendan’s Park, Birr.

Orla O’Dwyer, Sinead Buckley and Karen Kelly were magnificent for the winners, while Caoimhe Purdue came off the bench to supply a brace of goals, and hard though Aisling Downey tried, Galway could not contain Tipperary’s star-studded offensive unit. The Munster champions dominated early but shot a number of wides and Carrie Dolan, who provided the equaliser last weekend, put Galway ahead.

Buckley put in a Trojan shift for Tipperary and she equalised, with O’Dwyer following up. These were the only scores of a cagey opening but Siobhán McGrath brought the game to life, running through and making no mistake to give Galway a two-point advantage.

Grace O’Brien landed a free and Keely Linehan followed up to restore parity before Purdue struck for her first goal four minutes before the change of ends, taking a pass from O’Dwyer after Buckley’s lengthy delivery. O’Dwyer landed a terrific point from wide on the left and it was Tipperary going in at half time leading by 1-7 to 1-2.

Galway had shown their character in the drawn game and they clawed themselves back to within a point when Leanne Freaney’s shot deflected to the Tipperary net. The industrious Freaney took a pass from Shannon Ridge to point immediately after and it was game on again.

Tipp had been creating opportunities throughout however and Purdue pounced for her second goal to put some space between the sides again. There was a touch of fortune about the goal that finally broke Galway’s resistance, as Sinead Meagher’s shot a point struck the woodwork and O’Dwyer reacted quickest to finish. Meagher hand-passed to the net late on and all doubt was removed.

SCORERS –

TIPPERARY: O O’Dwyer 1-3; C Purdue 2-0; S Meagher 1-1; S Buckley 0-2; G O’Brien 0-2(fs); K Linehan 0-1 each

GALWAY: C Dolan 0-3(1f); L Freaney 1-2(1-1f); S McGrath 1-0; S Spellman 0-1

TIPPERARY: C Burke, E Murphy, C Mullaney, M Ryan, H McAuliffe, K Kennedy, E Loughman, C Maher, O O’Dwyer, K Linehan, S Buckley, E McDonald, J Kelly, S Meagher, G O’Brien
Subs: C Perdue for McDonald (21), C Condon for Maher (55), M Bourke for O’Dwyer (60)

GALWAY: S Healy, E Gaffney, A Downey, S Skehill, S Cannon, R Black, L Helebert, N Lawless, L Freaney, A Lynskey, S Spellman, M Dollan, E Broderick, C Dolan, S McGrath
Subs: S Ridge for Lawless (ht), T Moloney for Broderick (37), S Brehony for Gaffney (46), C Hanley for Cannon (46)

REFEREE: O Elliott (Antrim)