Cork have camogie league final to look forward as unbeaten run rolls on

Any time you win at The Ragg in Tipperary it’s always a good day. It was made even better for Cork on Saturday when that win secured their place in the Very Division 1A League final in a couple of weeks.

All through, Cork were impressive and never looked like losing. It was a battle, as you would expect, between two quality sides, but, in the end, the Rebels were too strong and won by 1-12 to 0-7, with 1-9 of their tally coming in the first half, when they had the wind.

Tipp managed to pull it back slightly, but they only outscored Cork by two points in the second half, which wasn’t enough to see the current league champions come out on top.

Even more impressive was the fact Cork held Tipp scoreless from play for the entire game, with Grace O’Brien hitting six frees and a 45, which Cork manager Ger Manley itted afterwards he didn’t know at that time.

“I thought it was a good performance today; we weren’t foot perfect,” said Manley, “You saw it yourself: Conditions weren’t great, between the wind and rain, and the pitch was soft, but I thought the performance was good. 

The application was good, as always; you will always get good application from these girls.

“I don’t think there’s ever a bad game in them. By that I mean they do their best every day out and you can’t ask for more than that.”

MAGNIFICENT

Cork had built up a lead by half time and then it was over to the defence to see if they could keep Tipp out and they did so with style to secure the win.

“Amy Lee made one great save and I think that was the only chance they had, really. Credit to our forwards, too, playing into that wind and I thought we were a bit unlucky not to get a few more goals.

“For me, the second and third quarters were when we won the game. We scored 1-4 in the second quarter and then defended magnificently in the third quarter, when we needed to, as they came at us, which you would expect them to do.

“The last 15 minutes was just about closing it out, really. 

It was tough out there, between the weather and our opponents, but I felt, on the day, we were the better team, really.”

Manley didn’t see the stats before he spoke after the game and didn’t know they had kept them scoreless from play. “Wes (O’Brien, one of the coaching team), is always on about that in training. I didn’t know that, but that’s a great stat and full credit to all those who played, who worked hard to ensure that happened.

“It’s great to win and it’s nice to secure your spot in the league final with a game to spare. But we have another tough game against Galway next week and we will prepare for that now.”