by Kevin Egan

Both of this afternoon’s fixtures in the Glen Dimplex All-Ireland senior camogie championship were settled by a puck of a ball, but when the dust settled, 2025 All-Ireland finalists Cork and Galway both had a goal to spare at the end of their road trips to Tipperary and Waterford.

FBD Semple Stadium was the venue for another meeting of old rivals Tipperary and Cork, and strong performances from Eimear Heffernan (0-4), Grace O’Brien (0-3) and Eimear McGrath (0-9, 0-5f) weren’t enough for Tipp to overcome a more balanced Cork display.

It finished 0-21 to 0-18 in favour of the visiting Rebels, who got their noses in front with an 0-4 to 0-1 run at the start of the second half and were never reeled in from there.

There was never more than two points in it during the opening half, which finished 0-11 each at the end of some very open attacking play on the fast Thurles surface.

Right from the throw in, the tempo was high, with Mairéad Eviston producing a brilliant tackle to dispossess Sorcha McCartan who was driving through on goal for Cork. Amy O’Connor pulled a ground shot across the goal from a tight angle in a frantic start, and the sense that Tipp were up for the fight here was heightened when Grace O’Brien picked up a good diagonal ball and opened the scoring to crown a breathless first 60 seconds.

Róisín Howard’s catch and lay-off to set up McGrath, Hayley Ryan’s sweeping strike with her back to goal and Laura Hayes splitting the posts from 60 metres out and just five metres from the sideline, were among the highlights in a first half that was full of quality.

Tipp lost their momentum a little in the third quarter, scoring just one point in 14 minutes, in no small part because of Hayes’ domination of the midfield exchanges. The 2024 Player of the Year was at her brilliant best, moving the sliotar around with control and precision to allow O’Connor (0-9, 0-6f)s, Saoirse McCarthy (0-5) and McCartan (0-3) to deliver the crucial scores for a Cork side that now sits on top of Group 1 with two wins from two games.

Former All-Stars Niamh Mallon (Galway) and Niamh Rockett (Waterford) were each ruled out of the game at Azzurri Walsh Park, where Galway repeated their Division 1A Central League final win over the Déise, this time prevailing by 1-13 to 0-13 in yet another tense, low-scoring battle.

Just three points were scored in the final quarter in a game where defences generally had the better of things, with Niamh Niland and Carrie Dolan landing scores in the last six minutes to give the All-Ireland champions their first win of the Summer.

Beth Carton (0-8, 0-5fs) and Niamh McPeake (0-5 from play) stepped up to the mark for their respective sides to carry a greater share of the scoring load in the absence of Rockett and Mallon, though it did look in the early stages as if a free-scoring shootout might play out in the sunny south east.

Annie Fitzgerald opened the scoring from a tight angle for the home side in the second minute but on the next attack Shannon Corcoran did really well to get a pass away out of the tackle and set up Mairéad Dillon for the equalising score.

Galway struck a decisive blow through Aoife Donohue, who despite giving up a couple of inches in height to both Brianna O’Regan and Rachael Walsh, was able to jump up between the two and get a decisive flick on Dolan’s long free to score the game’s only goal after six minutes.

Two up at half-time, Galway doubled their lead when Ailish O’Reilly and McPeake both pointed in the first three minutes of the second half to make it 1-9 to 0-8, the latter assisted by a gorgeous first touch and pass from Caoimhe Kelly.

Some big defensive performances from Laoise Forrest, Keeley Corbett Barry and Vikki Falconer were crucial in shutting down the Galway attack for the next 20 minutes, restricting them to a mere two points in that time.

Four Beth Carton points and a pinpoint strike from Abby Flynn from the right-hand sideline set up a dramatic finale, one that featured Niland delivering the score of the game and arguably the match-winning point at the end of a 40-metre lung-busting run.

That means that the final semi-final spot is still up for grabs, with both these teams and Tipp in contention for the direct route, with the others headed for the quarters.

RESULTS:

GLEN DIMPLEX SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP GROUP 1

Waterford 0-13 Galway 1-13

Tipperary 0-18 Cork 0-21

GLEN DIMPLEX INTERMEDIATE CHAMPIONSHIP

Westmeath 1-9 Laois 3-12

Carlow 1-12 Meath 4-15

GLEN DIMPLEX PREMIER JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP

Tyrone 0-9 Armagh 3-15

Kildare 1-9 Cavan 0-16

Roscommon 7-21 Wicklow 1-6

GLEN DIMPLEX PREMIER JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP

Mayo 1-12 Monaghan 1-6

Louth 2-18 Donegal 1-8

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