*Captain Sinead O’Keeffe and Sinead Hogg. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
CLARE are Junior All-Ireland camogie champions for the fifth time having overcome the challenge of Tipperary to deservedly take the honours.
Clare 3-07
Tipperary 1-08
Venue: Croke Park, Dublin
My Lovely Rose of Clare blared across the PA system of Croke Park as the final whistle sounded, Clare moving to fourth spot on the roll of honour for the amount of Junior All-Ireland titles won.
Victory was achieved for Clare in the third quarter when they had two spells where they hit 1-01 without reply. Not alone did it provide huge momentum for Clare as they kicked off the second half but also put Tipperary on the backfoot, creating a gap that they were unable to claw back from.
Such a result would have been questionable given the slow start from Clare to proceedings in Croke Park, they went the entire first quarter without a score and spurned two scoreable frees. At the other end, they had conceded 1-02 in this timeframe but they finished the half well and did enough to claw back on level terms which offered a timely lift as they retreated to the dressing rooms.
During the opening half, Clare were guilty of over-complicating matters in defence, opting to handpass the ball rather than hitting the sliotar into the space of their pacy forwards, something which was frustrating giving the striking ability of defenders like Ellen Casey and Laura McMahon.
Indeed this approach was to blame for the concession of 1-01, a Rachel Kelly hand pass was turned over by Rachel O’Dwyer who showed good stick work to control the ball before blasting it past Lauran Solan on thirteen minutes.
When Clare did open their account on the scoreboard, they made it count. Sinead Hogg made a vital block to stop a goal chance while the sliotar was carried the bulk of the field by Jennifer Daly, it then fell to Sarah Loughnane who produced an opportune strike to raise a green flag on seventeen minutes.
Joint captain Claire Stakelum responded with the next score for Tipperary but Clare then fired three points on the bounce to get back on level terms with twenty seven minutes played.
Ciara Brennan restored the lead in Tipperary’s favour before a goal chance for Clare that fell to Olivia Phelan went abegging. With the last strike of the half, Michelle McMahon equalised, possession was won back with an Ellen Casey ground stroke and was then calmly controlled by Grace Carmody who popped to McMahon and suddenly despite a first half shy of their expectations Clare headed to the dressing room on level terms with Tipperary.
Given the time to compose themselves at half-time, Clare moved away from the short-game at the break which is to be commended and they duly began to dominate the game.
Fortunately when play resumed, referee Brendan Heaney was less fond of blowing his whistle. He had given 22 frees in the first half, completely ruining the flow of the game but like the Clare management he opted for a different tack for the second thirty and the match was a much better spectacle for this.
On the restart, Clare found their rhythm, again Casey contributed with an excellent pass to find McMahon and Clare took the advantage for the first time with thirty one minutes on the clock.
From here, they never looked back and the lively Caoimhe Cahill raided for goal with thirty three minutes played, the Kilmaley attacker just like her clubmate Shonagh Enright in 2008 stuck a bullet to the roof of the net to bring the vocal chords of the Banner support into action.
Clodagh Horgan and Jennifer Daly traded scores before the quick reactions of Labhaoise O’Donnell saw her pull on the sliotar after a Cahill shot was stopped and it ended up over the line to see Clare boast a seven point advantage with thirty seven minutes played.
For the remainder of the contest, Clare didn’t score but crucially they limited Tipperary to two points, both frees from Jean Kelly while the Premier County were reduced to fourteen players with the dismissal of Ciara Brennan on a straight red card for a high tackle with forty two minutes on the clock.
Favourites heading into the tie, John Carmody’s Clare took a while to justify this tag but certainly showed they were the better side when they grew into the game. They had a number of strong performers but the pick of them were Jennifer Daly, Ellen Casey, Laura McMahon and Caoimhe Cahill.
Captain Sinead O’Keeffe in her victory speech spoke of how they were determined to build a legacy and were inspired by the All-Ireland win of the Clare U16s who she was hopeful would in the near future walk the steps of the Hogan Stand. Leading to success for Clare’s senior side must be the next target for all involved in camogie in the county.
Scorers Clare: S Loughnane (1-03 3f), L O’Donnell (1-01), C Cahill (1-00), M McMahon (0-02), J Daly (0-01)
Scorers Tipperary: J Kelly (0-04 3f), R O’Dwyer (1-00), C Brennan (0-02), C Stakelum (0-01), C Horgan (0-01).
Clare:
1: Lauran Solan (Whitegate)
4: Sinead Hogg (Truagh/Clonlara)
3: Caoimhe Lally (Newmarket-on-Fergus)
2: Rachel Kelly (Sixmilebridge)
6: Laura McMahon (Newmarket-on-Fergus)
5: Ellen Casey (Newmarket-on-Fergus)
7: Sinead O’Keeffe (Kilmaley)
9: Grace Carmody (Kilmaley)
8: Niamh Mulqueen (Broadford)
10: Labhaoise O’Donnell (Scariff/Ogonnelloe)
11: Michelle McMahon (Newmarket-on-Fergus)
12: Jennifer Daly (Scariff/Ogonnelloe)
13: Caoimhe Cahill (Kilmaley)
15: Olivia Phelan (Sixmilebridge)
14: Sarah Loughnane (Sixmilebridge)
Subs:
18: Aoife Anderson (Ruan) for Phelan (HT)
19: Cliodhna Queally (Inagh/Kilnamona) for M McMahon (43)
20: Aisling Cooney (Parteen/Meelick) for Loughnane (55)
17: Rebecca Crowe (Ruan) for Hogg (60)
21: Kaci Toomey (Newmarket-on-Fergus) for Cahill (61)
Tipperary:
1: Aoife O’Brien (Cashel King Cormacs)
2: Lisa Cahill (Kilruane MacDonagh)
3: Aisling Sheedy (Portroe)
4: Ciara Ryan (Silvermines)
7: Ciara McKeogh (Burgess Duharra)
6: Ciannait Walsh (Éire Óg Annacarty)
5: Rachel Maher (Nenagh Éire Óg)
9: Katie Fitzgerald (Borrisoleigh)
8: Ellen Cunneen (Silvermines)
12: Claire Stakelum (Holycross Ballycahill)
22: Rachel O’Dwyer (Éire Óg Annacarty)
11: Ciara Brennan (St Cillians)
15: Jean Kelly (Éire Óg Annacarty)
10: Aoife Dwyer (Thurles Sarsfields)
14: Clodagh Horgan (Boherlahan Dualla)
Subs:
20: Amy Callanan (Moycarkey Borris) for Maher (HT)
19: Amy Crosse (Cashel King Cormacs) for Fitzgerald (HT)
13: Aoife McLoughney (Shannon Rovers) for Dwyer (36)
18: Nessa Murray (Silvermines) for Sheedy (40)
25: Caroline Shanahan (Drom & Inch) for O’Dwyer (52).
Referee: Bernard Heaney (Meath)
