2026 National Camogie League Division 1A – Round 1
Galway v Kilkenny.
Date: 14 Feb 2026, 2pm
Venue: Duggan Park, Ballinasloe
Referee: Donnacha O’Callaghan
FT: Galway 1-13 Kilkenny 2-11
Photo credit: Don Soules Photography
Match Report
by Kevin Egan for Camogie Association
The O’Duffy Cup holders had home advantage against Kilkenny in Ballinasloe and they got out to a dream start when Carrie Dolan – scorer of that memorable winning point in Croke Park last August – found the net inside a minute of action at Duggan Park. Kilkenny responded well with the next two points from Aoife Prendergast and Laura Greene, and the Cats were back on level terms by the midway point in the first half when Sarah Barcoe split the uprights with a neat swing of the wrists in traffic. The Cats produced their best hurling in the ten minutes before half-time but going into injury time, it looked like Galway had held out well, conceding just two frees to Prendergast. Then Asha McHardy found the net to make it a four-point game and give Kilkenny something to defend as they turned around to play into the diagonal breeze.
It was a strong Galway team with nine starters from last year’s All-Ireland final, though just three of those were in the back seven. Still Róisín Black and Ciara Hickey were strong along the spine of the defence while Kilkenny’s starting full-forward line didn’t score from play. After falling 1-8 to 1-3 behind with 34 minutes gone, Galway came like a train with five points in a row, including two from play from the impressive Niamh Niland, but their good work was undone by Caoimhe Keher Murtagh’s goal early in the final quarter. Prendergast scored a free and a 45 to bring her tally to 0-7 and that was just about enough to enable Kilkenny to hold off a late push from Galway to win by 2-11 to 1-13.
ADDITIONAL:
- Kilkenny 2-11 Galway 1-13 (National Camogie League Division 1A Commentary & Reaction) – Galway Bay FM
- Camogie league round-up: Defeats for All-Ireland finalists Galway and Cork – RTE
Team
Captain – Carrie Dolan
Match Preview
- Galway vs Kilkenny (National Camogie League Preview at Centra Launch with Niamh Mallon) – Galway Bay FM
Division 1A League Results to Date
- Feb 14 Round 1 Galway v Kilkenny
