Beidh la eile, le cúnamh Dé

Waterford’s quest to play in Croke Park for the fourth year running ended in disappointed at the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick on Saturday where they suffered a four point defeat to Galway in this years Intermediate All-Ireland Camogie Semi Final.

With Derry through to the final after they beat Tipperary in the first of this years semi final a week previous, these two sides were expected to serve up a close game and they did not disappoint.

Trish Jackman playing at full forward was once again Waterford’s top tallies lady in this game hitting nine of her side’s scores, half a dozen of which came from placed balls.

Galway in this game had the better of the early exchanges as Deirdre Burke, Emma Kilkelly and Rachel Monaghan hit early scores which game them a four point advantage with nineteen minutes played.

The crucial score of the game came just before the break when Emma Kilkelly hit a fortuitous goal when a long range free that dropped in the Déise goalmouth and she reacted quickest, but Waterford were not out of contention at this stage as points from Trish Jackman, Niamh Rockett and Ruth Geoghegan meant that they were only two points down (1-6 to 0-7) at the interval.

The Tribes Ladies stretched their lead to five ten minutes of the restart but Mark Cooney’s charges showed great bottle to bring the game to just one puck of the ball with Trish Jackman sending the umpire in charge of the white flag into overdrive.

Waterford were unlucky not to have gone in front when Nicola Morrissey struck for goal but here effort was brilliantly saved by Róisín Callanan in the Galway goal.

It was the Western Province side that finished the stronger of the two sides after this with Rebecca Hennelly, Emma Kilkelly and Sinead Keane adding the scores which cemented their sides place in this years All-Ireland Final.

Both sides over the game had players that impressed. For the winners, Paula Kenny, Clodagh McGrath, Sinead Keane, Aoife Lynskey, Orla Curtain and Emma Kilkelly stood out, while for Waterford, they were most admirably served by Ruth Geoghegan, Jennie Simpson, Mairead Murphy and Trish Jackman.

Waterford: Tracey Kiely; Pauline Cunningham, Jennie Simpson, Kate-Marie Hearne; Claire Whyte, Shona Curran, Jenny McCarthy; Sarah Fenton, Grainne Kenneally; Mairead Murphy, Nicola Morrissey, Niamh Rockett; Zoe O'Donoghue, Trish Jackman, Ruth Geoghegan. Subs: Caithriona McGlone for Sarah Fenton, Fiona Morrissey for Claire Whyte.  

Scorers: T. Jackman 0-9(6 frees), N. Rockett 0-2, G. Kenneally, R. Geoghegan 0-1 each.

Galway: Róisín Callanan; Tara Kenny, Paula Kenny, Colette Gill; Clodagh McGrath, Sarah Noone, Sinead Keane; Aoife Lynskey, Emma Kilkelly; Deirdre Burke, Orla Curtin,  Ailish O'Reilly; Molly Dunne, Rachel Monaghan, Elaine O'Sullivan. Subs: Maria Brehenny for Molly Dunne, Rebecca Hennelly for Rachel Monaghan, Tina Cormican for Deirdre Burke, Aoibhinn Kenny Elaine O'Sullivan.

Scorers: E. Kilkelly 1-3, R. Monaghan 0-4(3f, 1'45), O. Curtin 0-2, S. Keane, D. Burke, A. O'Reilly, M. Brehenny, R. Hennelly (f) 0-1 each.

Referee: D Ryan (Dublin).