CORK 2-16
KILKENNY 0-8
GER McCARTHY REPORTS
‘WE want to win all of our games’ – that was the defiant message from Cork captain Daire O’Brien, from Enniskeane, after the Rebels kicked off their All-Ireland Camogie U23 Championship with an impressive opening round victory at Páirc Uí Rinn on Saturday.
‘Every day you go out, you want to win and play well. The performance was the most important thing. Thankfully, we got that,’ O’Brien said after the 14-point win against Kilkenny.
‘We have four tough games coming up in the space of five weeks. That will be good for the whole panel. Everyone should get a run. You can’t play the same 20 girls every game but that’s the importance of having a big panel.’
Cork's Millie Condon takes on Kilkenny's Lauren Ronan and Aisling Browne during the U23 All Ireland Camogie Championship Round one at Páirc Uí Rinn on Saturday.
This is camogie’s inaugural U23 All-Ireland championship, introduced following the removal of county's second teams from the intermediate and junior inter-county grades. Drawn in Group A, Cork, after the win against Kilkenny, will face Galway, Tipperary and Waterford in the coming weeks. Four of the five counties will progress to All-Ireland semi-finals after the round-robin phase.
There was plenty of Carbery camogie interest in Cork’s first U23 championship outing. The Rebels were captained by Daire O’Brien who lined out at centre-back. Newcestown’s Claire Kingston started at full-back in a game Ballinascarthy’s Millie Condon began in midfield. Clonakilty’s Amy McCarthy was on the bench.
Amid windy conditions, Cork got off to a blistering start courtesy of 1-1 from Amy Sheppard inside the first two minutes; the Cork attacker would finish with 2-6. The home side’s lead swelled to 1-5 to 0-3 after a quarter of an hour, and Cork also led by five at the break.
Just after the restart, a converted 45 took Sheppard’s total to 1-5 before Amy Brennan landed Kilkenny’s second point from play. Now 1-8 to 0-6 ahead, Millie Condon’s barnstorming run and score preceded a fine Eimear Duignan effort as Cork stretched their leads. Rose Murphy, Ava Fitzgerald and Niamh McNabola helped to extend Cork’s lead to 1-14 to 0-7 before Sheppard fired home her second goal with eight minutes to go and confirmed Cork’s victory.
Scorers
Cork: Amy Sheppard 2-6 (4f, 1 45); Niamh McNabola 0-2; Isobel Sheehan, Orlaith Mullins, Millie Condon, Eimear Duignan, Rose Murphy, Ava Fitzgerald, Erin Curtin, Nicole Olden 0-1 each.
Kilkenny: Rachel Downing 0-6 (6f); Ellen Gunner, Amy Brennan 0-1 each.
Cork: Caoimhe Buckley; Avril Cashman, Claire Kingston, Laura Dunlea; Meadhbh Ring, Daire O’Brien (captain), Eimear Duignan; Ava Fitzgerald, Millie Condon; Isobel Sheehan, Orlaith Mullins, Niamh McNabola; Rose Murphy, Claudia Keane, Amy Sheppard.
Subs: Sinead Hurley for M Ring (inj, ht), Erin Curtin for C Keane (45), Tara McCarthy for A Cashman (57), Emily O’Donoghue for N McNabola (57), Amy McCarthy for E Duignan (blood, 57), Nicole Olden for I Sheehan (57).
Kilkenny: S Farrell; H Larkin, L Nolan, S Kerr; L Phelan, T McGrath, A Browne; Keara Ryan, L Ronan; E Mulhall, R Downing, E Gunner; K Brennan, A Cody, A Brennan.
Subs: R Kelly for K Brennan (26), M Gannon for E Mulhall (51), K Ryan for A Brennan (58).
Referee: P Murphy (Carlow).
