Galway come through tough battle to claim the spoils

Galway  1-13

Tipperary 1-10

Darren Kelly in Kenny Park

Noreen Coen’s first-half goal proved priceless last Saturday as Galway came through a strong Tipperary challenge to commence their assault on the All-Ireland senior camogie championship.

It took late points for Aoife Donohue and Niamh McGrath to ensure Ollie Bergin’s side victory in a contest that rarely saw the teams seperated by more than one puck of the ball.

The incessant rain didn’t allow for fluid hurling, and the Tribeswomen made life difficult for themselves on occasions. But when needed, they found the critical scores to hold off a resurgent Tipperary.

This was a highly anticipated encounter after both sides made the league semi-finals in April.  Tipperary’s underage successes have signalled a strong squad emerging, and the introduction of Orla O’Dwyer, who scored a goal against Galway in the recent minor final, indicated that Brian Boyle was ready to give youth its fling.

Likewise, Bergin has allowed game-time for most of his panel over their schedule and added more in their recent Gael Linn (Interprovincial), series success but he still sent out an experienced team.

It was Ailish O’Reilly who opened the scoring on two minutes after Tipperary hit the ground running. Two early chances were dealt with by the Galway defence before the Oranmore/Maree attacker split the posts, and on Galway’s second attempt, Niamh Kilkenny added another white flag.

Even though Tipperary’s potential threat was given respect, many observers still felt the Tribeswomen would win comfortably. Their last meeting in February ended in a 3-7 to 0-5 victory for the maroon and white, and in their previous championship clash in 2013, Galway’s margin of victory was 16 points (2-19 to 0-9).

But the visitors settled and registered their first score in the sixth minute when O’Dwyer found the target, and after Nicole Walsh shot within range straight after, the sides were level at 0-2 apiece.

The greasy conditions weren’t helping, and Galway were struggling to control the sliothar.  Ground hurling was nearly non-existent and shots on target was proving a problem for both sides.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.