2023 Electric Ireland All Ireland Minor Championship

Minor A: Round 5

Match Report

By Sarah Gaughran, Galway Camogie PRO
The Galway Minor Camogie team suffered their second defeat in a row in the Electric Ireland Minor A Championship when they lost out to Cork on Saturday in the Cork Camogie Grounds. Cork were the dominant side throughout the contest but Galway will have to pick up the pieces and up their performance for next weekend when they will be taking on Cork again in the All-Ireland Semi Final. 

Galway failed to make use of the strong breeze in the first half that was in their favour. Aoibheann Barry got the opening score of the game with a free. Niamh McNabola responded quickly for Cork with a point from play. Barry through another free, edged Galway in front again, but Amy Sheppard replied quickly for Cork to bring the sides level again. Cork then went on a scoring spree scoring three more through points from Ciara Morrison, and Amy McCarthy a 45m free from Emily O’Donoghue to leave Cork 3 points to the good. Caoimhe Kelly tried to keep Galway in touch with their first score in nearly 20 minutes with a point
from play but three more points for Cork through Morrison (2) and McNabola extend their lead to five. Barry did manage to claw one back before half time through a free to leave it Galway 0-4 Cork 0-8 heading into the half time break. 

Cork’s domination continued at the beginning of the second half. Points from Morrison and McCarty extended the lead further for Cork. On the 38th minute, Cork got their first major of the day through McNabola to leave them in the driving seat. The Cork attack kept putting pressure on the Galway defence while up front, Galway were in desperate need of another score. Sheppard and Morrison added further points for Cork before O’Donohue added Cork’s second goal of the day to their lead to extend their lead even further. Cork added a further three points to their tally and it looked like there was no comeback for Galway. Credit must be given to the way Galway finished off the game. A Barry free and a point from substitute Sophie Flynn helped in reducing the deficit while goals from Flynn and Kelly helped in inspiring Galway in the final few minutes of the game. McCarty added another score to her tally before the end of the game while substitute Abbie Massey added a point to Galway tally but it was too little too late for the tribeswomen. 

Galway will be disappointed with their performance, but they have no time to dwell on it as they will face Cork again next Sunday at 2PM in Nenagh in the All-Ireland Semi Final. While Galway looked out of the game for parts of the game, they will have to focus on the positives such as their strong finish and they will need to bring these positives into the game next weekend. While Galway were safely through to the semi-finals before this game, it will be all to play for next weekend and a massive performance will be required as they enter the knockout stages of the championship.  

Galway: C Hickey; S Kelly, A Crowe, K Scully; G Leen, C McGrath, Z Rodgers; C Glynn, A Collins; A Barry (0-7F), L O’Halloran, C O’Meara; A Fahy, S Carr, C Kelly (1-1)
Subs: I Fleet for Leen (h-t), A Massey (0-1) for O’Halloran (h-t), S Flynn (1-1) for Fahy (40), K Madden for Collins (40), L NicDhonncha for Z Rodgers (50).

Cork: C Lane; M De Burca, S Hurley, R Roche; O Cremin (0-1), L Dunlea, E Duignan; M Condon, A Fitzgerald; A Sheppard (0-2), C Morrison (0-6), A McCarthy (0-3), N McNabola (1-2), E O’Donoghue (1-3), E Curtain.
Subs: A Lotty for Curtain (40), A O’Sullivan for Sheppard (42), J Connaughton for Lane (42), R Roche for Fitzgerald (42), C Rice for Dunlea (49), H Healy for Hurley (49), S Murphy for McNabola (49), A O’Riordan for Condon (49).

TEAM

• PLAYER PROFILES: Minor Panel
• MANAGEMENT: Minor Management
• FIXTURES: Minor A Championship Fixtures

2023 CHAMPIONSHIP

Round 1: 12 Mar, Galway 3-10 Waterford 2-06
Round 2: 19 Mar, Galway 2-03 Kilkenny 0-08
Round 3: 26 Mar, Dublin 0-11 Galway 1-14
Round 4: 2 Apr, Tipperary 0-14 Galway 2-04