Cathal Murray hoping Galway's injuries clear up for All-Ireland camogie final
If we are honest, the composition of the Glen Dimplex All-Ireland senior camogie final is not a surprise, but there were question marks about both champions Galway and Cork and they provided the necessary answers in front of a record semi-final crowed of 10,311 to get over the line against Kilkenny and Tipperary respectively.
The Tribeswomen were better value than the 1-14 to 0-11 scoreline suggested, as they were in cruise control for the second half, once the outstanding Carrie Dolan drilled a penalty to the net less than two minutes after the resumption, having been fouled off the ball in the square.
Dolan finished with 1-4 but as ever, her influence extended far beyond scoring, particularly in the opening half.
Ciara Hickey, who was named player of the match, Róisin Black and Dervla Higgins led the customarily obdurate defence, while Niamh Niland, Niamh McPeake and the excellent Caoimhe Kelly were all multiple scorers from play at the other end.
Kilkenny were heavily reliant on Aoife Prendergast’s accuracy from frees, the Dicksboro ace scoring eight points and three from play told much of the Stripeywomen’s ability to get any change from the stingiest defence in camogie.
Much has been made of Cork’s turnover of players – and it is considerable - but Galway have lost five All-Ireland winners too and were shorn of Niamh Mallon and Jennifer Hughes through injury for this outing.
And yet, they are through to a sixth All-Ireland final under Cathal Murray’s steardship, bidding to secure a fourth triumph in this golden era.
“I’m really proud of the girls out there,” said Murray. “When you start the Championship, you just want to get to the final. You want to be there the second Sunday of August.
“Coming in, I’ll tell you now, I was worried because we’d only three games played and we were sitting back watching Kilkenny play six games – six and a half games if you count extra time the last day – and they were looking an excellent team. And they are an excellent team.
“So we were concentrating on the first 10 minutes, getting a good start and getting into the game and I’m really proud of the girls to be honest with you. I thought it was an unbelievable performance – the amount of hooks and blocks and tackles. The amount of players that stood up for us today, that’s the thing I take out of it, to be honest with you and I’m just delighted to be back in the final.”
While glowing about the performances of his younger cohort, the sight of player of the year Aoife Donohue, club player of the year Dervla Higgins and Higgins’ Athenry clubmate Sabina Rabbitte forced to depart the fray was concerning.
“We’re under pressure with injuries now. Jenny and Niamh Mallon were out today and couldn’t start. Aoife picked up a knee injury and we’re not sure how bad that is and it is gonna have to be assessed.
“Sabina’s injury doesn’t look too good. She just went in to block down and she got a nasty enough injury on the thumb it looks like. There’s a few more. Dervla had to come off early and she got injured in the first half as well.”
As he spoke, a heavily limping Dolan walked past, having finishing up just standing in at full-forward, with Galway playing the last 10 minutes down to 14 after Rabbitte’s departure as it was, having used their full complement of subs. Murray revealed later that it was a calf issue.
“Two weeks’ time is a massive game so we want to have as many people as we can on board. Hopefully (the injuries) clear up but it’s certainly not looking good for one or two of them.”
In the opposite camp next week are familiar faces in Cork, the team whose three-in-a-row aspirations they ended 12 months ago. Now, there is talk of Galway securing a first ever two-in-a-row but when this was put to Ailish O’Reilly, the exclamation of disdain told a tale. It will be grand to talk about if it happens, but as ever, it is only about winning this one.
“The media is always going to bring up those things, no more than last year with Cork and the three-in-a-row,” said Reilly. “You’d be lying if you said we didn’t want it. Absolutely we do but it’s not the main focus. We have lots of other things to work on first and if it happens, it happens.”