Banner repel brave Offaly’s fightback in Birr

Clare made it two out of two in the Liberty Insurance Senior Camogie Championship holding off Offaly by 1-10 to 1-8 in a titanic battle in Birr on Saturday.

There was nothing between them early on as Siobhán Flannery twice and the excellent Tina Hannon replied to scores from Niki Kaiser, Claire McMahon and the experienced Deirdre Murphy.

McMahon edged Clare ahead once more and they opened some daylight when Fiona Lafferty found the net. Offaly had plenty of scoring chances though but shot 11 wides in that first half, although much of the credit for that should go to a magnificent Clare full-back line in which Máire McGrath was the star player.