Camogie: Leenane and McIntyre turn tide in Tipp's favour to set up Galway reunion

Tipperary 1-22 Kilkenny 0-19

(After extra-time)

by Kevin Egan at Croke Park

Tipperary are headed to the last four of the Glen Dimplex All-Ireland senior camogie championship, where they will play Galway in a repeat of last year’s dramatic semi-final clash, after two crucial plays in the space of 60 seconds mid-way through extra-time turned a tense and tight quarter-final battle with Kilkenny their way at Croke Park this afternoon.

With the first half of extra-time expiring, a high ball from Laura Murphy dropped just outside Tipp’s small parallelogram, and as the ball and Caoimhe Keher Murtagh hit the deck, referee Ray Kelly whistled for a penalty, meaning that Keher Murtagh’s one-handed sweep of the sliotar to the net didn’t count.

Aoife Prendergast’s penalty was low and on target, but Laura Leenane correctly read the strike, diving low and left to parry the shot and keep her net intact.

Then on the next attack Clodagh McIntyre, who had been replaced mid-way through the second half but reintroduced for the start of extra time, took possession out on the Cusack Stand side and exploded through a tackle to bear down on goal. Her thunderous shot to the roof of the Kilkenny net gave the Premier County a 1-19 to 0-19 lead, and when Eimear Hefferan kicked off the second half of overtime with a sensational strike for a point from the same touchline, Tipp were well on course to the semi-finals in a fortnight, where they will take on Galway.

Perhaps the key moment during the hour of normal time was another goalmouth incident where Tipp showed their survival instinct, preserving their goal at a time when the contest was finely poised, 12 minutes into the second half.

Katie Power’s pass into Keher Murtagh set the Rower Inistíoge attacker through on goal, but she couldn’t quite get clear of Mairéad Eviston, who came up with a crucial block on the shot from ten metres out.

In a game like this, a goal would have been hard to overcome – and that was a testament to the Cats’ structure, with Maria Brennan operating as sweeper to help curtail a Tipperary attack that scored 39.5 points per game in their four championship outings so far, a stark contrast with Kilkenny’s average of 22.

Brennan dropping deep left Eviston as a free operator at the other end, but Kilkenny’s excellent use of the ball, allied to some outstanding play from Murphy and Katie Power along the spine of the attack, seemed to give them an edge. The two attackers were imperious, scoring 0-4 and 0-3 from play respectively in the opening half as Kilkenny as a unit struck an immaculate 0-10 from ten shots.

It wasn’t that Tipperary were wasteful either, with just two wides in the first half hour.

However they found it more difficult to keep the ball out of Brennan’s sphere of influence, and it was only two excellent points from Caoimhe McCarthy on her forays forward that kept them within range, trailing 0-10 to 0-8 at the interval.

The shift in momentum at the break was subtle, and could be attributed to two key factors. While Murphy remained influential, McCarthy took a greater hold of that individual battle; and every bit as significant was the switch of Casey Hennessy to midfield.

Freed from the shackles of a strong marking display by Tiffanie Fitzgerald, Hennessy had a fresh lease of life and hit three points from her new berth, as well as creating several more chances. Her point opened the scoring in the second half after an excellent give-and-go saw her attack the centre of defence, and by the time the fourth quarter rolled around, the introduction of Jean Kelly added an extra dimension to the attack as well.

Points from Kelly and McCarthy seemed to put Tipp in the driving seat, but the maturation of this Kilkenny team has been one of the stories of this championship, and it fell to Sarah Barcoe and Murphy to split the posts in the closing minutes and send the contest through to overtime.

When Prendergast hit the first three points of extra time, the Leinster champions had a home semi-final in a fortnight in their grasp, but that was all to change in the space of one very consequential minute.

SCORERS FOR TIPPERARY: G O’Brien 0-9 (8fs); C McIntyre 1-0; C McCarthy, C Hennessy, J Kelly 0-3 each; M Burke, R Howard, C Maher, C Hennessy 0-1 each.

SCORERS FOR KILKENNY: A Prendergast 0-7 (4fs); L Murphy 0-5; K Power 0-4; L Greene 0-2; S Barcoe 0-1.

TIPPERARY: L Leenane; M Eviston, K Blair, E Loughman; N Costigan, C McCarthy, S Corcoran; K Kennedy, C Maher; R Howard, M Burke, E Heffernan; C McIntyre, C Hennessy, G O’Brien. Subs: J Bourke for Costigan (23); J Kelly for Burke (46); L Purcell for McIntyre (48); N Cunneen for Howard (60+2); McIntyre for Purcell (full-time); Howard for Heffernan (79); E Cunneen for Hennessy (

KILKENNY: A Norris; M Teehan, T Fitzgerald, D Quigley; K Doyle, N Deely, C Dowling; A O’Gorman, L Greene; S Fitzgerald, L Murphy, M O’Connell; A Prendergast, K Power, M Brennan. Subs: C Keher Murtagh for O’Connell (half-time); S Barcoe for O’Gorman (50); S Holden for Doyle (58); K Nolan for Brennan (67); S O’Dwyer for Power (74).

REFEREE: Ray Kelly (Kildare).