Old rivals make final plans

Camogie/All-Ireland senior A championship semi-finals: Cork and Tipperary will meet yet again in the Gala All-Ireland camogie…

Camogie/All-Ireland senior A championship semi-finals: Cork and Tipperary will meet yet again in the Gala All-Ireland camogie final at Croke Park on September 10th.

The meeting will be the Munster sides' fifth time in a row to contest the All-Ireland final and their sixth in seven seasons.

Tipperary have appeared in every decider since 1999, claiming five of the seven titles on offer.

Cork, however, are champions after last year's 1-17 to 1-13 victory and will be keen to retain their crown and land a 22nd title.

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They were the less impressive of the two sides to qualify from a double-header of semi-finals at Nowlan Park though.

Low-scoring Cork edged out Galway 1-7 to 0-6 while Tipperary were in better form with a 0-13 to 1-8 win over an up-and-coming Kilkenny side.

Tipperary had their experienced goalkeeper Jovita Delaney to thank for masterminding this latest semi-final victory.

Inspired by young stars Edwina Kane and goalscorer Marie Dargan, both of whom came on in the first half, Kilkenny worked hard on their home turf.

Tipperary led 0-7 to 0-5 at half-time and Delaney came into her own with a number of fine stops after the restart.

The free-taking ability of Clare Grogan, who finished with a total of 0-5, and points from Emily Hayden, Ger Kinnane and Emer McDonnell kept Tipperary just about ahead at all times.

But they got a shock when Kilkenny netted through Dargan midway through the second half. It was an opportunistic strike as a high ball deflected into her path and she rifled it to the net from 12 yards.

Despite six points overall from top scorer Imelda Kennedy, it was not to be Kilkenny's day as Tipperary held out.

Meanwhile, Cork made tough work of a four-point victory over Galway, Eimear Dillon's first-half goal setting them on their way.

Centre-forward Dillon seized on a breaking ball in the Galway rearguard to drive home past Stephanie Gannon.

With Rachel Moloney and Jenny O'Leary both hitting points Cork took a 1-3 to 0-3 lead into the interval.

Ultimately they held out to advance to the Croke Park decider with Gemma O'Connor, Dillon, Angela Walsh and O'Leary all impressive. But they could have made life easier on themselves and Galway threatened all along.

Lourda Kavanagh notched four points for Galway while substitute Ann Marie Hayes hit a late point to keep the pressure on.

But despite the best efforts of Gannon in goal, Regina Glynn, Brenda Hanney and Kavanagh the Westerners lost out.

SCORERS

Tipperary 0-13 (C Grogan 0-5, four frees, E Hayden 0-2, G Kinnane 0-2, E McDonnell 0-2, C Hennessy 0-1, J Ryan 0-1); Kilkenny 1-8 (I Kennedy 0-6, frees, M Dargan 1-0, A Neary 0-1, B Mullally 0-1).

Cork 1-7 (E Dillon 1-1, J O'Leary 0-3, frees, R Moloney 0-2, A Walsh 0-1), Galway 0-6 (L Kavanagh 0-4, three frees, V Curtin 0-1, AM Hayes 0-1).