Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship round one
Group 1
Antrim 2-10 Derry 3-17
Tipperary 1-19 Waterford 2-13
Limerick 1-19 Kilkenny 0-4
DERRY gained revenge for defeat a fortnight ago in the Armagh Hotel Ulster senior final by dominating this opening game in the Glen Dimplex All-Ireland series in Cushendall.
The Oak Leaf team played with the aid of the breeze in the first half and Aoife Shaw gave them the perfect start with a goal in the eighth minute to add to an earlier point.
Although Maeve Kelly replied almost immediately with a point for the home side, Derry rattled off the next four points via Áine Barton, Aimee Lennon, Orlaith Hull and Bríd Rogers and it was obvious at this stage that Antrim were in trouble.
They pulled back a couple of points through Dervla Cosgrove and Róisín McCormick (free) to make it 1-5 to 0-4 but Derry took off once more with six unanswered scores, including three from former Down player Rogers.
Maeve Kelly and Aoife Shaw exchanged late points but Antrim went in at the break down 1-13 to 0-5 and had an uphill battle ahead even though they had the wind behind them for the second half.
That hill got steeper seven minutes into the second half when Shaw bagged her second goal following a sweet inter-change out the field between Megan (Kerr) Donnelly and Aoife Ní Chaiside. The goal was followed by a neat point from Dervla O’Kane to stretch the lead to 15 points.
Eventually Antrim got moving midway through the half and helped by a goal from Dervla Cosgrove they reduced the lead to 10.
However, the second Saffron goal didn’t arrive until the 57th minute, an excellent individual effort from Róisín McCormick. Less than 60 seconds later it was cancelled out when Aimee Lennon finished a good move up the right wing by forcing the sliotar over the goal-line from close range.
Derry held all the aces in this game and there was barely a position on the field that they didn’t dominate, with all six forwards a handful for the home defence.
It leaves them nicely placed coming into home games against Tipperary and Limerick over the next two Saturdays.
Antrim are in Corrigan Park against Kilkenny this week, but they too may be looking ahead to the Limerick game, their final group game.
Tipperary came from five points down early in the second half to beat Waterford in the game of the weekend at The Ragg. They had trailed by 1-7 to 1-6 at the break with Máiréad O’Brien and Clodagh McIntyre exchanging goals midway through the half.
O’Brien’s second goal in the 37th minute put the Déise 2-10 to 1-8 ahead, but two points each from Eimear Heffernan and free-take Eimear McGrath pulled Tipperary back level at 1-15 to 2-12.
Waterford’s Keely Corbett Barry then picked up a second yellow card and Tipp took advantage with late points from McGrath (two), Cáit Devane and Clodagh McIntyre to edge the result.
Meanwhile Kilkenny enjoyed a 1-19 to 0-4 win over Limerick at Rathkeale with sub Steffi Fitzgerald the goal-scorer and Asha McHardy (five), Katie Nolan (four) and Aoife Doyle (three) the main point scorers.
Antrim Á Graham, F McIntosh, M McGarry, C McKillop, E Coulter, E Martin, A Boyle, E Johnston, S McKillop (0-1), M Kelly (0-3), R McCormick (1-2, 0-1 free), S Fyfe, E McIntosh (0-1), C McArthur, D Cosgrove (1-3, 0-2 frees)
Subs M McKenna for M McGarry (26), J McIntosh for F McIntosh (38), F Kelly for S Fyfe (42), A McKillop McArthur (46),
Derry N Gribbin, C McEldowney, N Quinn, S McGill, R Downey, M Donnelly, A Ní Chaiside, Á McGill, D O’Kane (0-2), O Rafferty (0-1), Á Barton (0-2), O Hull (0-2), A Shaw (2-2), B Rogers (0-5), A Lennon (1-3)
Subs R McAllister for Á McGill (51), A Cassidy for Á Barton (58), L Lennon for C McEldowney (59), J Donnelly for A Lennon (60), E Doherty for S McGill (60 + 2)
Group 2
Cork 1-15 Wexford 1-6
Clare 1-14 Down 1-5
Dublin 1-11 Galway 0-17
DOWN were always going to be up against it in this group, but they performed very well in Ennis against Clare on Saturday, particularly during the opening half, at the end of which they trailed by 1-6 to 1-4.
Five minutes from the break things looked even better when they were 1-4 to 0-3 up thanks to a goal from Sophie McGrath. However the home side broke for a goal from Áine O’Loughlin and then tapped over two points to turn the game in their favour.
During the opening 20 minutes of the second half, Clare were in control and pulled away with Róisín Begley, Laura Foley and O’Loughlin all adding points to seal the result. Down were very much on top in the final 10 minutes but could only add a Saoirse Sands point to their total.
Clare Á O’Loughlin 1-2 (0-2f), R Begley 0-4; L Foley 0-3; C Cahill 0-2; C Carmody, ZY Spillane & HM Neylon 0-1 each
Down S McGrath 1-1; C Fitzsimmons 0-2 (0-1f); S Sands & I O’Hare 0-1 each
TWO former Down players enjoyed success with their adopted counties.
Niamh Mallon got her first start with Galway and top-scored on 10 points as the beaten league finalists came away from Dublin with a 0-17 to 1-11 victory. That total from the former Portaferry forward included seven points in the first half, three from play before she took over on frees.
The teams were level at the break 1-8 to 0-11 and Dublin went 1-11 to 0-12 up after 40 minutes. However, they failed to score for the rest of the half and Mallon fired over three frees to put Galway ahead before she was substituted in the 56th minute.
Meanwhile, Sorcha McCartan, an All-Ireland medallist last season, helped Cork to a comfortable 1-15 to 1-6 win over Wexford at Páirc Uí Rinn.
The Castlewellan native didn’t score but last season’s player of the year Amy O’Connor did the damage with seven points, with Katrina Mackey scoring four. Substitute Clodagh Finn scored the Cork goal deep into added time.
