Galway v Waterford: Division 1A Round 4

March 23, 2024

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2024 National Camogie League Division 1A – Round 4

Galway v Waterford.
Date: 23 March 2024, 2pm
Venue: Loughrea GAA
Referee: Aaron Hogg

FT: Galway 0-13 Waterford 0-12

Match Report

The Galway Senior Camogie team are one game away from booking their spot in the Very National Camogie League Division 1A Final after they secured a narrow victory over Waterford in Loughrea last Saturday. Galway overcame a strong second half comeback from Waterford as they ran out 0-13 to 0-12
winners on the day.

Galway had the aid of a very stiff breeze in the opening half that they made good use of. Niamh Niland opened the scoring in the opening minute for Galway. Corner back Dervla Higgins made her way up the field to receive a pass from Carrie Dolan and Higgins made no mistake in striking the ball over the bar for her first point in the league campaign to date. Dolan got her first free of the day a minute later to leave Galway 0-3 to 0-0 after three minutes. 2023 Player of the year, Beth Carton got Waterford off the mark on the 5th minute when she slotted over a free. Dolan and Carton swapped scores from play on the 8th and 10th minutes to leave two between the sides. Galway’s top scorer Dolan added three more points to Galway’s tally, two through frees to leave it 0-7 to 0-2 at the midway point of the half. Carton, Waterford’s only scorer of the first half got her third point of the day on the 18th minute with a great score from play. Niamh McPeake, despite being dispossessed worked hard to win the ball back a minute later to get her first score of the day. Niland got her second point on the 22nd minute with a fantastic effort from play. Carton and Dolan swapped frees before the end of the half as Galway headed in 0-10 to 0-4 ahead heading into the half time break.

Galway knew that they were facing testing conditions in the second half as they were playing against a stiff breeze. Waterford started the second half just like Galway started the first with a free through Carton and points from Lorraine Bray and Niamh Curran to leave it Galway 0-10 Waterford 0-7 after 34 minutes. Dolan got her 7th point of the day on the 36th minute through a free. Waterford made great use of the wind advantage and scored the next five points without reply through three Beth Carton points, one through a free and two wonderful long range free efforts from the Waterford keeper Brianna O’Regan to leave Waterford one point ahead with three minutes of normal time remaining. However a late Galway come back with a free from Dolan and a late point from play from centre forward, Ailish O’Reilly meant that Galway ran out one point winners on the day.

A win or a draw against Cork next weekend will secure a spot for Galway in the league final but a massive improvement is required to ensure they get a result. Galway will have home advantage against the rebelettes and they will be hoping to bring a big performance as they look to keep their hopes of making it three league titles in a row alive.