O’Connor blasts Cats to final

TWELVE times a winner herself over the course of a glittering career shared with her twin sister, Ann Downey’s delight in taking Kilkenny back to the Gala All-Ireland senior camogie final after a lapse of seven years is tempered by the awareness of what her young team faces on September 13.

“It’s absolutely great to get to play in Croke Park, to run out on to the pitch. That’s the first thing and after that, it’s winning!”

She was speaking after a dramatic semi-final victory in Nowlan Park on Saturday, achieved with a winning goal in the fourth of six minutes of added time, in circumstances Galway manager Liam Donoghue found difficult to come to terms with.