With just under 24,000 in attendance at Croke Park on a sunny August Sunday afternoon, Kilkenny have been crowned All-Ireland senior camogie champions for 2022.
Going in as slight favourites, the Cats opened up a six point lead in the first half with Cork taking 20 minutes to register their first score, that one rattling the back of the net to cut the deficit in half.
Level by the break, it would be Cork to take the lead early in the second half and from their out the sides produced a classic deserving of the rivalry between the counties on the senior stage.
Sophie Dwyer, coming off the bench for Kilkenny would help seal the win with a vital goal two minutes from the end of normal time. Denise Gaule, having missed two scorable frees earlier, stepped up in the second minute of injury time to point from 45m and ensure a 15th All-Ireland title for the Cats.
With the Rebels pushing all the way to the finish, Ashling Thompson could have sent the game to extra time with her point attempt beyond the four minutes of added time straying wide.
Heroes will rise
There were countless other heroes of course. The Walsh cousins, Grace and Miriam were magnificent leaders at the edge of either square.
Grace made clearance after clearance and came up with a remarkable last-ditch block to deny Katrina Mackey a potential goal in the first half.
Miriam continued her stellar campaign with three points, two out of the top drawer in the first half. She also was fouled for two frees including the winner.
A strike from Niamh Deely was blocked late on, leading to the critical 58th minute goal. The ricochet sent the sliotar looping up into the air, forcing Cork skipper Amy Lee to back-pedal furiously, having advanced to close the angle for the shot.
All the ‘keeper could do was bat it out as she fell backwards, into the path of advancing super sub Sophie Dwyer, who built on the good impression she had made in quarter-final and semi-final cameos by registering the score that put life back into the Cats.
Cork had moved two points ahead for the first time three minutes earlier via an Amy O’Connor free, after Hannah Looney had given them the lead following another rampaging run from the electric Fiona Keating.
It felt like the Rebels were just gradually asserting the dominance they had been showing for most of the previous 40 minutes or so on the scoreboard.
Slow start
Cork had begun with a similar lethargy displayed in the semi-final against Waterford and did not get on the scoreboard until the 20th minute, when Keating slammed home a brilliant goal after galloping away from the cover after picking up possession just inside the 45.
Up to then, it was all one-way traffic in the other direction, as Kilkenny broke from the traps in devastating fashion. They were winning all the 50-50s and as proceedings wore on, didn’t even have to do that as they seemed to have time in possession wherever they were.
Tiffanie Fitzgerald pointed from the very first play, before the teams had a chance to move into game configuration, which was the only reason she found herself in an advanced position. She and sister Steffi were the first starters the Young Irelands club have ever had in a senior final and Tiffanie quickly sprinted towards the full-back line.
Nolan and then Walsh’s brilliant brace followed. Gaule slotted two in 30 seconds and it was 6-0 with 15 minutes played.
Cork were in the horrors but Keating’s goal certainly buoyed them and they began to play with more confidence. From there to the end of the game, they at least held their own and for large swathes of affairs, held the upper hand, troubling Kilkenny with their pace where Keating and Mackey certainly had the sirens sounding. Hannah Looney thundered into the fray too.
Keating and Mackey supplemented two frees by O’Connor and though Michaela Kenneally had pointed for Brian Dowling’s outfit, in the click of the fingers, the teams were level 0-7 to 1-4. Mackey’s equaliser told of the new-found confidence in Matthew Twomey’s team, coming at the end of a triangle of passes from Chloe Sigerson and Sorcha McCartan.
The second half
Half-time came and you had to think it was Kilkenny that wanted it more given how the tide had turned now that the Rebels were matching their work rate and making inroads with their running game. Méabh Murphy and Laura Treacy were composed in defence too.
But Kilkenny had their ferocious industry, evidenced by Nolan and Katie Walsh among others. And this is a storied rivalry that is rarely one-sided so no one was surprised that they were level five times in a wonderful second half.
Cork led for the first time thanks to an O’Connor free, a second for a foul on Ashling Thompson, but Miriam Walsh and Nolan, from a foul on the powerful Tullaroan attacker, got Kilkenny back ahead.
Over and back they went from there, Keating levelling after good work from Sigerson and Mackey, and then Mackey sending one soaring over from right on the Cusack Stand sideline 44m out, only for Nolan to equalise again from a free.
Dynamo
Then it was Saoirse McCarthy on the run and Nolan keeping Kilkenny in touch. The diminutive St Martin’s dynamo did the needful once more when O’Connor had thumped a free over at the other end, but then came the period when one thought Cork had separated themselves, ever so slightly, by establishing that two-point buffer.
They don’t call it the most dangerous lead in the world for nothing. Dwyer made no mistake from off the sod for the goal but then Mackey, as dynamic as her first day in the squad in the early part of the last decade, sped away from four defenders and batted over right on the hour.
Even after Gaule’s winner, there was still one final chance for Cork as Thompson advanced to about 55m out and shot off her left. The Milford talisman’s effort, after 65 minutes on a sweltering day, was just tugged marginally however, and though having the distance, dropped marginally wide.
The puckout was the last play and a game for the ages had finished in Kilkenny’s favour.
It’s a second title for Kilkenny in three years, having beaten Galway to the 2020 crown inside an empty Croke Park.
Those that were there today were certainly served their money’s worth. Final score, Kilkenny 1-13, Cork 1-12.
Additional reporting Daragh Ó Conchúir at Croke Park.
Teams & Scorers
KILKENNY: A Norris, M Teehan, G Walsh, T Fitzgerald, N Deely, C Phelan, S Fitzgerald, L Murphy, K Power, D Gaule, M Kenneally, J Malone, M Walsh, D Gaule, K Nolan. Subs: S Dwyer for Kenneally (47); A Prendergast for O’Connell (55)
CORK: A Lee, M Murphy, L Coppinger, M Cahalane, L Treacy, C O’Sullivan, L Hayes, H Looney, A Thompson, K Mackey, F Keating, S McCarthy, C Sigerson, S McCartan, A O’Connor. Subs: E Murphy for McCartan (51); C Healy for Murphy (54); O Cahalane for Sigerson (60+2)
SCORERS FOR KILKENNY: K Nolan 0-5(2fs); M Walsh, D Gaule (1f) 0-3 each; S Dwyer 1-0; T Fitzgerald, M Kenneally 0-1 each
SCORERS FOR CORK: F Keating 1-2; A O’Connor 0-5(fs); K Mackey 0-3; S McCarthy, H Looney 0-1 each
Homecoming Details
The players are set to return to Kilkenny tonight with a banquet at the Kilkenny River Court Hotel from 9.30pm. A civic reception will be held at Kilkenny Courthouse, Parliament Street, on Monday beginning with a replay of the game from 5.30pm with players expected to the steps of the Courthouse around 7.15pm.
