CATHAL MURRAY was a contented figure at
Kenny Park in Athenry yesterday, after watching his Galway outfit defeat
Limerick by 2-12 to 1-10 and almost assure themselves of a place in the
Quarter-Finals of the Liberty Insurance All-Ireland Senior Camogie
Championship.
The result sees the Tribeswomen jump
their neighbours into second in Group 1 on score difference, and while Wexford
can still join them, they would need heavy-scoring wins in their remaining ties
against Galway and Offaly to snatch a last-six berth.
Ailish O’Reilly was the start of the
show with two goals and four points, the goals in each half keeping a gritty
Limerick at bay.
Murray has had a big impact since taking
over the reins at Galway after last year’s National League and oversaw the
Maroons’ victory over Kilkenny in this year’s League Final.
He saw plenty to inform upcoming
training sessions as his crew lacked economy and gave away too many frees, and
though a bit of rustiness might have contributed to that, the most important
aspect of the day for him was the result.
“We didn’t seem to be the sharpest
match-wise but Limerick are always going to be a good test” said Murray.
“There’s a lot of the performance we
wouldn’t be happy with but it was very important to get the win to try make
sure we get second in the group.
“The goals were probably the difference.
We got the two goals. Ailish is flying in fairness. Anytime we got the ball
into the full-forward line we looked dangerous but we probably didn’t finish
enough. It was six chances out of 15 created that we took and that’s never
going to be good enough at this level and it’s something we have to work on.
“Our discipline was poor. We gave away
20 fouls in the game which is way too high. It had nothing to do with the
referee. We were giving away stupid frees, especially the use of the hurley was
very poor. It’s another thing we have to work on.
“It’s not like us and I suppose when you
haven’t played in three weeks, little things like that creep in.”
Niamh Mulcahy goaled in injury time to
bring her tally to 1-7 but once O’Reilly bagged her first goal in the 18th
minute to give her side the lead, the result was rarely in doubt.
On Saturday, Cork, Waterford and
Tipperary all secured their progression to the knockout stages when they
secured home wins at the expense of Meath, Clare and Dublin respectively.
Goals from Ciara McCarthy, Katelynn
Hickey and Linda Collins were among the highlights for Cork as they handed
Meath a 3-22 to 1-5 defeat at Páirc Uí Rinn, Grace Coleman raising the green
flag for the visitors, who must beat Tipperary next week to have any chance of
avoiding a relegation play-off.
Mary Ryan hit two monstrous points in
the first half, Cáit Devane shot five points and Eilish McDonald maintained her
goalscoring form with a second-half major for Tipperary to get the better of
Dublin by 1-11 to 0-9.
Dublin needed a win to keep their hopes
of progressing alive and the same applied to Clare, but they were unable to get
the better of Waterford, despite hitting five points in a row in the second
half, including a wondrous effort by Clare Hehir.
Beth Carton goaled in the first half and
then provided the assist for Sarah Lacey in the second. When the Bannerwomen
got it back to three points late on, Fiona Morrissey hit the target to ease
Déise nerves and cement the 2-10 to 0-12 victory.
