Camogie's breakthrough bunch, Waterford take a step to be cherished

Nobody has banged harder on the door of camogie’s closed shop in recent years than Tipperary and Waterford.

Mon, 24 Jul, 2023 - 07:05

Eoghan Cormican, Nowlan Park

Impromptu or otherwise, semi-final celebratory team photographs just aren’t the done thing.

Flashbulbs are for the final. Semi-finals, on the other hand, are for surviving. Nothing more.

Saturday, though, wasn’t so much a semi-final as it was a once-in-a-career breakthrough opportunity.

Nobody has banged harder on the door of camogie’s closed shop in recent years than Tipperary and Waterford.

With the game’s big three devouring one another on the other side of the draw, Tipperary and Waterford would never again get a better chance to reach the big time.

And when referee Liz Dempsey pulled the curtain down early in the fifth minute of second-half injury-time, it was Waterford who had won the title of camogie’s breakthrough women.

Only the county's second ever All-Ireland final appearance secured. Their first since the defeat to Antrim in 1945. A 78-year gap washed away in the July rain. They should have followed the photo with a lap of honour.

A very healthy crowd of 7,250 attended Saturday’s semi-final double-header. Waterford’s following was comfortably the largest of the four. The two main stands erupted in white at the final whistle.

Before Waterford players danced up into the stands to embrace family and friends, they embraced one another. Lorraine Bray jumped into the arms of Beth Carton. No two players had done more to get the Déise across the threshold. Nobody ferried more possession than Bray. Nobody linked the play better.

In the 29th minute, the captain charged down a Karin Blair point attempt on her own 45-metre line, carried the sliotar to the opposing 45-metre line, handpassed to Carton, and she split the posts.

Of the five second-half points Waterford hit between the 40th and 57th minute to go from two behind to three in front, Beth accounted for all bar one. Two of her four here were frees, one of which she won herself.

There was no holding the championship’s top-scorer. There was no holding back the emotion at full-time.

“It is so amazing to have done it with the group and management we have. It is an unbelievable feeling,” Waterford half-back Keeley Corbett Barry began.

“Camogie has risen so much within Waterford that anyone you met last week, they were saying to you, ‘best of luck now on Saturday’, whereas five or six years ago, that wasn't the case and there wasn't that awareness.

“Camogie is really pushing on within the county. It was absolutely amazing to see the support we had here today.

“The last few minutes, Tipp were getting closer and closer. But we did so well. Girls gave it their all. They were dying out on that pitch. They are such a credit.”

Tipp’s late charge, where they whittled a three-point deficit down to the minimum, was the first bit of hurling they had done since the opening quarter.

After a gift of a Cait Devane goal moved them 1-7 to 0-3 clear on 19 minutes, they were then outscored 1-9 to 0-2 in the ensuing 38 minutes. A 10-point swing.

Tipp had hammered Waterford 4-11 to 1-9 in their Munster semi-final meeting in May. At seven ahead on 19 minutes, they had the foundation laid for another comfortable win.

They will rue their second-half disappearing act. They will rue not pushing defender Karen Kennedy further forward earlier than they did. They will rue Kennedy’s blocked goal chance on 59 minutes and the subsequent ‘45 sent wide by Eimear McGrath.

They’ll ruminate long and hard over a fifth semi-final defeat in six years.

For Waterford, their response to Tipp’s early charge made the result all the sweeter.

Mairead Power’s goal on 24 minutes helped bring them back within one at the break. Upon the restart, they swamped the Tipp attack with bodies, while their clinical link play meant they utilised the space further forward to allow Carton and her supporting cast thrive.

“We knew we had done so much work this year to build on last year,” Corbett Barry continued. “It was sickening coming away from last year's semi-final against Cork. We were ahead with three minutes to go and we left it behind us. We didn't want that to happen today.”

From bossed to buoyant. From outsiders to camogie’s breakthrough bunch. Cork and a likely record final crowd away.

Scorers for Waterford: B Carton (0-8, 0-4 frees); M Power (1-0); A Flynn (0-2); B O’Regan (0-1 free), A Fitzgerald (0-1 each).

Scorers for Tipperary: C Devane (1-3, 0-3 frees); E McGrath (0-4, 0-4 frees); K Kennedy, R Howard, C Maher, G O’Brien (0-1 each).

WATERFORD: B O’Regan; V Faulkner, L Forrest, K Lynch; O Hickey, C Carroll, K Corbett Barry; A Flynn, L Bray; M O’Brien, B Carton, R Walsh; M Power, N Rockett, A Fitzgerald.

Subs: C Griffin for Walsh (40); A Corcoran for O’Brien (52-56 temporary); A Landers for Carroll (58); R Kirwan for Griffin (62).

TIPPERARY: Á Slattery; E Loughman, M Eviston, K Kennedy; T Ryan, J Bourke, A McGrath; K Blair, C Hennessy; R Howard, C Maher, E McGrath; G O’Brien, C McIntyre, C Devane.

Subs: C McCarthy for Blair (36); C Quirke for Hennessy (39); N Treacy for E McGrath (62).

Referee: L Dempsey (Kilkenny).