2 days Ago By Andrew Ryan
GALWAY captain Carrie Dolan will hope to be doling out another defeat on CORK when the sides meet the Very Camogie League final.Dolan was named player of the match in Saturday’s 0-19 to 0-13 win over the already-qualified Rebels at Páirc Uí Chaoimh which earned the Tribeswomen a sixth consecutive decider.Carrie Dolan of Galway and Pamela Mackey of Cork tussle during the Glen Dimplex Camogie All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship final in 2024Piaras Ó Mídheach/SportsfileThe ace shot 0-10 but insisted that things will be very different when the sides renew rivalries in Semple Stadium.
The skipper said: “We had more to play for than Cork, we wanted to get into a league final and they were already in it, so we had that extra edge I suppose.“We were put in a position where we had to win and we stood up when we had to.“We had a good range of scorers, 19 points is a positive.
But when it comes to the final, it will have zero significance.“Cork were down players and we were down one or two as well. It’s going to be a completely different game.
”Wins for Waterford, Kilkenny and Galway in Saturday’s final round of games in Division 1A ensured that the two south-east rivals preserved their status in the top tier.On Leeside, Cork led by 0-3 to 0-2 early on before Galway went on a run of seven scores in a row, and with the breeze set to blow at their backs for the second half, their 0-11 to 0-4 interval lead meant that they were already well on the road towards securing the win they needed.Dolan added: “This is the biggest stadium we’ve played in, and in the bigger stadium, the goals look that bit bigger.
It’ll be similar next time in Semple Stadium, we’ve played there a couple of times and we’re looking forward to it.”As it happened, Galway would have been in the April 13 final regardless.TIPP required a win to have any chance of securing second but instead it was the Déise’s day at Walsh Park, with WATERFORD hitting the last three scores to edge out a tense battle by 0-10 to 0-9.
Captain Lorraine Bray emphasized how important that win was for a Waterford side that was still in the relegation mix before the ball was thrown in.She told WLRFM Sport: “1A is where every team wants to be. We knew that we had to come out and perform.
“We knew Tipp would put up a tough battle and it was every bit of that. We felt every bit of it. We needed that performance and we needed that win.
”DUBLIN, meanwhile, needed to beat KILKENNY to preserve their top-flight status.But the Cats, also in relegation danger, racked up a comfortable 2-16 to 0-14 win, despite the Sky Blues scoring five of the last seven points.Cats captain Katie Power — who returned to the side for the first time after injury to operate in front of the full-back line — said the clean sheet that was most satisfying part of the win.
Power said of her new sweeper role: “When I came back in training, it was something the lads threw me into to get me on a bit of ball.“It was about shoring up things in defence and I wasn’t very sure of some aspects of how to play it, but I had great girls behind me, and if you can make sure that you don’t concede much, you’re half-way there.“It was the first game all league that we didn’t concede a goal so that’s definitely going to bring confidence up.
”Power was delighted to be back and is looking forward to helping oversee the transition to a new generation of Kilkenny camogie stars.She added: “(Captaincy) was great, it was something that I’d have dreamed off since first playing as a young girl. That responsibility is something that I’ll be forever grateful for.
“Hopefully there’ll be a few more days like it.”.
