Cork 2-10 Galway 1-08 By Cóilín Duffy A brace of first half goals from Síle Burns were the decisive scores as Cork claimed the O'Duffy Cup for the 23rd time, following a five-point victory on a wet day at Croke Park, which saw some of the best goals witnessed at GAA Headquarters this year. 18,727 watched on as Cork dug deep to give an impressive performance, following a hard earned win over Galway in the Gala All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship final Jessica Gill certainly was a major player in ensuring Galway continued to keep in touch in this game, and the Athenry ace was also key in the opening stages, as Galway led by 0-4 to 0-0 after nine minutes, with all of those scores coming from Gill frees. However it was the reliance of Liam Donoghue's charges on scores from placed balls which cost them dearly, but in reality it was Cork's rear-guard which reigned supreme. When goalkeeper Aoife Murray leaked a 27th minute goal from midfielder Áine Hillary, it was the only real blip on an otherwise flawless Rebel defensive performance. Cork opened their account on ten minutes, with the first of seven points from full-forward Rachel Moloney. Moloney had been a danger player throughout the Championship and again proved to be crucial to this Cork success. If Maloney was one player for the Galway defence to be watchful of, so too was right-corner forward Síle Burns with the Rockbán native crashing home two first half goals - which were really the decisive scores in this game. Burns first goal came on 16 and a half minutes, after Eimear O'Sullivan and Elaine O'Riordan combined, to flick the ball off to Burns who had no hesitation to crash the ball to the net. Four minutes later and Burns was again on target, this time crashing the ball to the roof of the net from the 21 metre line; as what had been a four-point Galway lead 10-minutes previously had now been turned into a four-point Cork advantage. But Galway rallied strongly and a goal, from a speculative Áine Hillary shot in the 27th minute, ensuring the deficit was reduced to the minimum, with the half-time scoreline reading 2-3 to 1-5 in Cork's favour. Points from Moloney and Orla Cotter opened up a three-point advantage in as many minutes after the restart, and although Jessica Gill had ample goal opportunities, including a 36th minute penalty - it just wasn't to be Galway's day. Aoife Murray was rock solid between the Cork posts, while at the opposite end Susan Earner also pulled off two fine saves in the closing ten minutes. Firstly Earner stopped a bouncing shot from centre-half-forward Una O'Donoghue in the 52nd minute, which was cleared out for a 45; and then five minutes later a chance for Síle Burns to complete her hat-trick; but nothing was going past Earner at that stage. Galway weren't without their scoring chances as the full-time whistle approached, but a clinical Cork side failed to lose their composure as a seventh Moloney score put the gloss on a hard earned five-point win. After the game an overjoyed Caitriona Foley accepted the O'Duffy Cup from Camogie President Liz Howard. Cork - Aoife Murray; Lynda O'Connell, Caitriona Foley, Joanne O'Callaghan; Gemma O'Connor, Mary O'Connor, Sara Hayes; Orla Cotter (0-1), Briege Corkery (0-1); Amanda O'Regan, Una O'Donoghue, Eimear O'Sullivan; Sile Burns (2-0), Rachel Moloney (0-7, 6f 1 45), Elaine O'Riordan. Subs - Emer O'Farrell (0-1) for O'Riordan (HT); Rena Buckley for O'Connell (40); Linda Dorgan for O'Regan (57). Galway - Susan Earner; Sandra Tannion, Ailbhe Kelly, Therese Manton; Ann-Marie Hayes, Sinéad Cahalan, Niamh Kilkenny; Áine Hillary (1-0), Sarah Noone; Molly Dunne, Therese Maher, Veronica Curtin; Orla Kilkenny, Jessica Gill (0-8, 8f), Brenda Kerins. Subs - Lourda Kavanagh for Dunne (HT); Caitriona Cormican for Noone (48); Deirdre Burke for Kerins (58). Referee - Eamonn Browne (Tipperary) Tweet

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