'No lost causes' - Saffrons boss Dowds hopes to carry energy from Cork stunner
A DOGFIGHT: Both sides feeling the pressure in a cracking contest at MTU Cork. Pic: Noel Sweeney
Elaine Dowds conceded that long-term developmental plans went out the window in the closing quarter, as the reality of an away Centra Camogie League Division 1A victory over Cork emerged as a realistic possibility.
And who could argue? No one, as the Saffrons downed the Rebels at MTU Cork for the first time in almost half a century, meaning that the defending champions are still without a win after two games. And anyway, beating Cork will tend to accelerate growth, even if the bench hasn’t been emptied in the process.
Meanwhile, Galway, who beat Cork in the All-Ireland final will be pursuing their first win albeit having had this weekend off, while a resurgent Kilkenny tops the table after beating Tipp to retain a 100% record from the first two rounds.
“I’ve played camogie all my life. This is the first time in many, many years that Antrim have beaten Cork,” beamed Antrim manager Elaine Dowds in the aftermath of her side’s 2-10 to 1-11 win.
Cork lined out with just three starters from the team that contested last year’s championship decider in Croke Park but they still looked like the more likely winners when came back from five points down to lead by one with the wind at their backs early in the final quarter.
Aimee Ferris’ goal on 51 minutes retook the advantage for the visitrs however and they were able to hold out, with goalkeeper Caitriona Graham making a fine late save to go with two previous excellent stops to prevent goals in the opening half.
“I do understand this is a very depleted Cork team, but I am still very, very proud of what we have done today,” Dowds told The Irish Examiner.
“We’ve come down here and given absolutely everything. It is about workrate, belief, never giving up, no lost causes, and I think you saw that today. Normally I would think the League is for getting your subs off the bench, but who could I take off there?”
The other game in the top tier saw Kilkenny use the breeze well to build up an 0-11 to 0-2 half-time lead against Tipperary at Freshford, with Asha McHardy picking up the Player of the Match accolade for her outstanding display in the half-forward line, striking six points from play to power her side to an 0-15 to 0-10 victory.
“This year there’s just such a new energy within the group, it’s so positive and so enjoyable. We really wanted to come and back up last week’s win here today, and we’re delighted to have done that,” she said afterwards.
“There was a strong wind in the first half, we did well to have a lead of nine at half-time but we knew Tipp were going to come back at us, we probably had a bit of a rough patch but we stuck with them and dogged it out.” The Cats have now gone to Galway and beaten their neighbours from Tipp, with the Leesiders the next big challenge in another home game on March 7.
“We’ll put the heads down now and get ready for Cork. We’re in a really good place and we’re looking forward to it,” McHardy added.
Tipp manager James Heffernan accepted that his side was second best on the day, but he was still happy that in terms of player development, there was still a lot gained out of the fixture.
“Kilkenny were the better team, especially in the first half. It was a big step up in physicality, Kilkenny have scoring forwards everywhere and it’s very hard to mark that. The underfoot conditions were tough and that didn’t help either. We were happy enough with the second half and we left a few chances behind us,” was Heffernan’s summary.
“We’ve Galway at home now, most teams have a win on the board except them and Cork, so it’s wide open. We’re learning lots about our players, we had 15 players unavailable so we had some players playing their first match, we got good minutes into others on the panel so that’s all positive.” In Division 1B, Clare recorded an 0-16 to 0-9 win over Wexford, Sarah O’Brien’s second-half goal edged Limerick past Offaly by 1-15 to 2-9 and Down beat Dublin by the same margin, 1-10 to 0-10.




