2022 Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Intermediate Camogie Championship Final – Galway 0-13 Cork 0-11

Galway defeated Cork by 0-13 to 0-11 in the Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Intermediate Camogie Championship Final on Sunday August 7th at Croke Park.

Gilchrist’s seven the foundation as Galway grind it out

by Daragh Ó Conchúir at Croke Park

Galway 0-13 Cork 0-11

Galway had just the more energy to win an absolute arm wrestle with Cork and with that, the Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Intermediate Camogie Championship title.

The second half was a tight and tense affair, which would always suit the team with the advantage and that was the Tribeswomen, who began it with a three-point lead and won by two.

Cork did not help themselves, shooting 11 wides over the hour, but some of those should be credited to the fantastic defensive play of the Galway defence in which Ciara Donohue and Lisa Casserly were colossal figures.

Galway were reduced to 14 in the 52nd minute when Kate Manning was shown a second yellow card in six minutes, for a high tackle, but Cathal Murray’s troops rarely looked in danger of conceding a goal.

That said, they were a little fortunate when Joanne Casey surprisingly elected to shoot low from a free just outside the 20m line in the 56th minute, with two points between the sides.

Just a minute earlier, Stephanie Beausang dived bravely at the feet of Laura Kelly to deny the Galway sub a goal and a score at the other end would have fed the gradual momentum in the Rebels’ direction.

While reducing it to the minimum seemed the obvious move, Casey went for goal and the sliotar ricocheted off the ankle of Katie Anna Porter who cleared.

Three minutes later, Katie Gilchrist was slotting her seventh point of the day with her last act of the game and the margin was three.

Casey split the posts for her sixth in the third minute of injury time from a tight angle but time ran out on Trevor Coleman’s team.

There wasn’t a whole lot between them in a more open first half either but Galway were just a little more economic, and in Laura Loughnane, had a forward clearly in good order with herself as she fired three points from play.

With Gilchrist finding the target from five frees and Tegan Canning and Niamh McPeake also getting on the scoresheet, that was four of Murray’s six starting forwards doing the business.

Cork had three, Casey slotting four frees and the lively Lauren Homan (two) and outstanding Katelyn Hickey splitting the posts also.

Both teams played with sweepers – Ciara Hickey for Galway and Ashling Moloney for Cork – and the pair were largely effective as goal opportunities were at a premium and they mopped up far too many wayward deliveries.

It was 0-10 to 0-7 at half-time but Cork resumed with a pep in their step and already had half a goal chance when Homan slotted her third point but as the game wore on, things became more clogged around the middle third.

The Maroons were able to bring on a player of the calibre of Kelly, who was central to them getting over the line with a goal and two points after coming off the bench.

Within seconds of her 40th minute introduction, she set up McPeake for a lovely score but Cork had their own depth in defence and Rachel O’Shea finished very well for the score of the day that began in the Rebel defence and was advanced spectacularly by Hickey for the Carrigaline finisher to score.
But Galway would not let Cork any closer than touching distance. And that was far enough away.

GALWAY: F Ryan, C Starr, C Donohue, C Hickey, K Manning, L Casserly, K A Porter, A Hesnan, J Hughes, N McInerney, K Gilchrist, T Canning, O Rabbitte, N McPeake, L Loughnane
Subs: L Kelly for Canning, S Corcoran for McInerney (both 40); C Kenny for Loughnane (55); A Kelly for Gilchrist (60)

CORK: S Beausang, A Moloney, N O’Leary, G Hannon, J O’Leary, K Kilcommins, L O’Sullivan, L Callanan, R Harty, J Casey, K Hickey, S Hutchinson, L Homan, H Ryan, C O’Callaghan
Subs: M Murphy for Hutchinson (29); R O’Shea for C O’Callaghan (39); A O’Callaghan for Ryan (59)

SCORERS FOR GALWAY: K Gilchrist 0-7(6fs); L Loughnane 0-3; N McPeake 0-2; T Canning 0-1

SCORERS FOR CORK: J Casey 0-6(5fs); L Homan 0-3; K Hickey, R O’Shea 0-1 each

REFEREE: Gavin Donegan (Dublin)

RTÉ Coverage
RTÉ has earlier this year reaffirmed its commitment to Camogie coverage launching a new multi-year deal. As a result, the 2022 Glen Dimplex All Ireland Senior, Intermediate and Junior finals will be live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player from Croke Park on Sunday 7th August 2022.

Ticket Information

Tickets for all games will be sold online in advance.
Tickets are on sale from ticketmaster.ie. Ticket prices are: €30 for Adults, Family (2 adults/ 2 kids) €60, OAP €20, student €15, €5 for Children.

Team News

CORK (Inter v Galway): S Beausang, A Moloney, N O’Leary, G Hannon, J O’Leary, K Kilcommins, L O’Sullivan, L Callanan, R Harty (VC), J Casey, M Murphy, S Hutchinson, L Homan, H Ryan, C O’Callaghan.
Subs: S Ahern, A O’Callaghan, K Hickey, R O’Shea, D Carrol, C Finn, Á Crowley, L Doyle, C Crowley, T McCarthy, L Mannix, K Falvey, C O’Leary, C Hurley, F Neville (C)

GALWAY (Inter v Cork): F Ryan, C Starr, C Donohue, C Hickey, K Manning, L Casserly, K A Porter, A Hesnan, J Hughes, S Divilly, K Gilchrist, T Canning, O Rabbitte, N McPeake, L Loughnane
Subs: S Coleman, C Reidy, S Lyons, A Kelly, T Lawrence, A Donnellan, E Gilmore, L Kelly, C Kenny, N McInerney, G O’Neill, S Corcoran, C Farragher, E Dolphin, C Hanley

Both second-string teams had to survive the most intense of semi-final examinations before booking their places in the Glen Dimplex All-Ireland intermediate final.

They had advanced directly as group winners to the last four so that might have been the expected eventuality, but Cork had already lost to Derry in the round-robin phase and so knew they would be up against it in the rematch with the Oak Leafers.

And it wasn’t looking good as they trailed by three points entering the closing stages of a cagey affair. It was notable that Trevor Coleman’s charges reeled in the deficit with four straight points, with the equaliser and winner both coming in injury time from the stick of former senior All-Ireland winner Joanne Casey, the latter in the fifth minute of the supplementary period.
Also significant was the impact the Rebels got from their subs, Katelyn Hickey coming on in the 44th minute to score two points, including the first of that definitive four-point stretch, while Rachel O’Shea also split the posts and was then fouled for the winner, which Casey nonchalantly provided. Rachel Harty and Lauren Callanan were prominent at midfield throughout while Lauren Homan struck three classy first-half points.

Galway had a fairly serene progression through the group stages, when the likes of Tegan Canning, Laura Kelly, Cora Kenny and Niamh McInerney scored heavily, while the defensive unit, founded on the reliability and leadership of Ciara Donohue and Lisa Casserly bordered on impregnable.

It came as no surprise though that Meath would provide a thorough examination of the credentials of Cathal Murray’s unit at the penultimate hurdle but they showed plenty of character as well as squad depth to recover from the concession of a second minute goal to chisel out a four-point success.

Kelly and McInerney came off the bench to make their mark, the former scoring a vital goal, while Katie Gilchrist and Olwen Rabbitte also raised green flags. Kelly finished with 1-3, having taken over free-taking duties as well when entering the fray. The goals conceded were Galway’s first of the campaign but they will have learned far more from surviving such a challenge than in less testing affairs up to this juncture.

It is the first meeting of the counties with the Jack McGrath Cup up for grabs since 2009, when Galway got over the line in a replay. The most recent of their three titles arrived in 2013, when they had two points to spare over Limerick, while Cork’s latest of four triumphs came in 2018 against Down. This is their first final appearance since, with Galway last in the decider in 2019, when Westmeath edged them out by two points.

Both squads have undergone quite a transition in the meantime and will have to do without the considerable experience and ability of key operators Finola Neville (Cork captain) and Tara Ruttledge (Galway) due to cruciate injuries but retain a sprinkling of experience to go with youthful potential, and obvious strengths in each sector. One suspects this may be in doubt right to the final whistle.