Galway get test from Offaly

Galway’s experience saw them finish strongly and overcome a stern Offaly test (1-11 to 1-8) in Saturday’s Liberty Insurance senior camogie championship tie.

Central to the late flourish was the introduction of star forward, Niamh McGrath. and she was replaced in the starting line-up by Sarsfields clubmate, Maria Cooney.

Like McGrath, Cooney is the daughter of a member of Galway’s greatest hurling team ever (Michael ‘Hopper’ McGrath and Joe Cooney the famous fathers).

Siobhan Flannery was Offaly’s chief scorer in that opening half but an injury-time goal by Mollie Dunne gave Galway a 1-5 to 0-4 lead.

Niamh Kilkenny stretched the margin to five points but Tina Hannon’s goal, after her first effort had been saved by Susan Earner, put the tie back in the melting pot. Flannery then slotted three frees to leave it 1-7 apiece at the three-quarter mark.

It was time for McGrath to enter the fray and she added three frees to a Jessica Gill point from play as the Tribeswomen finished strongly. There was late drama though as Flannery made it a three-point game from a free and was given a chance to snatch a draw, but her 20m free was saved.

In the absence of Úna Leacy and Ursula Jacob, Kate Kelly showed her leadership qualities when inspiring Wexford to a 3-9 to 0-11 victory over Limerick at Innovate Wexford Park.

Kelly finished with 2-6, including two second half goals to deny Limerick.

Limerick led 0-5 to 0-4 at the interval but Wexford stormed out with the wind at their backs in the second half, with Kelly claiming 1-2 in a matter of minutes. Brid Gordon found the net later on and when Kelly was fouled with time almost up, the veteran calmly converted the resultant penalty.

Tipperary just held off a rampaging Dublin to bag their second win of the campaign (1-13 to 2-9) at O’Moore Park. Cait Devane scored nine first-half points as Tipperary led 0-11 to 0-4 at the break. Dublin used the wind to good effect in the second period with Siobhan Kehoe and Ali Maguire amongst the scorers. The key scores were the goals from Sarah O’Donovan and Louise O’Hara but crucially Gemma Grace grabbed a major for Tipperary that enabled them to keep their noses in front.

Meanwhile, Kilkenny showcased their massive scoring power as the came away from Swatragh with an 8-22 to 2-10 win against Derry.