Karen Duddy in Croke Park
In a game of two halves, Tipperary managed to edge to victory over Laois in the Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Premier Junior Final, mending their heartbreak from last year's loss and lifting the Kathleen Mills Cup in superior fashion.
Laois had the momentum for the first half and much of the possession, creating strong passages of plays down both sides of the pitch. Delaney and Eimear Hasset put two scores over before Tipp’s Jenny Grace pointed from a free. It would be 22 minutes before the Premier County would score again.
Suzy Delaney was taken down in front of goal after receiving a great ball from Hasset. Aimee Collier, penalty taker, saw her attempt on goal saved by goalie Laura Leenane. Delaney collected the loose ball and shook the net for Laois.
Collier was immense for the blue and whites in the next period, splitting the crossbars twice as Tipperary resorted to frantic Hail Mary balls where they found themselves with possession. Aisling O’Dea added to Laois’ scoreboard. Grace pointed again from a free and Tipperary settled into the last five minutes of the half, with Eva O’Dwyer and Grace making it a four point deficit before the break.
At this point, it appeared that Laois would sail to victory, but their seven wides during this first period would come back to haunt them over the following 30 minutes. Tipp manager Bill Mullaney was under no illusion that his side would need to step it up for the second half.
Laois came out. We said Laois were going to come out and really come at us hard – as you would expect in an All-Ireland Final. They really stuck it to us in the first half – we couldn’t perform or get our game going, our flow going. That’s a credit to Laois – they outworked us, our hooked us, out blocked us. At half time we just said we needed to up the work rate, commit to our own principles of play and come out and produce. We could die on our feet or we could go home at half time – one or the other.
Tipperary came storming out after the break. Substitute Eva O’Dwyer opened the scoreline, and the free-taker Grace scored a brilliant 5 points, only answered by one score from Collier in this quarter. Tipp were dogged, they were determined, and both momentum and possession had swung in favour of the Premier County.
Player of the Match Sophie Pembroke stopped a plethora of Laois attacks, where Delaney put two wides over under this pressure. Delaney followed up with an incredible point from a tight angle to put Laois ahead with three minutes to go.
"The only thing in my head was – win the next puck out. Bill has it driven into our heads – if you don’t win the ball, win the next one, win the next one, and that’s what was going through our heads. So it didn’t matter where the ball was – we had to win it and that was that," said Tipp captain Sinéad Meagher on the tense closing minutes.
But the Tipperary momentum was too strong to allow Laois to take another score. Super sub Anna Fahie levelled the scoreline, followed by a last minute free from Grace. The final whistle blew and the heartbroken Laois fell to the floor.
The turnaround came from the girls themselves, they just knuckled down and started to work. A couple of adjustments on the field - the subs that came on - had a huge impact as well. And a couple of adjustments from midfield into the forward line as well. But it comes down to this – really the girls started believing in themselves and committing to the game, committing to the process and committing to the hooks and blocks and the work rate all the time. And I think that’s what turned the tide. And once we got a foothold in the game and really got going.
Meagher reflected on the win as a whole and how important it was to her.
We know the strength and especially the heart as well. And that got us over the line in the finish. We stood up, we showed our character like we do in every single game. This one was really really important to me. Especially as well, being captain, I felt like I wanted to do it for the girls. Especially my family, over the last few years my mam passed away and it was something she really really wanted me to do, was climb the steps of the Hogan stand. When I was named captain I was under no illusion that I wanted to go up and climb those steps and no better way to do it than by winning by a point. I’m so happy I have that done now.
As for Laois, they must wait another year to attempt to win the Premier Junior All-Ireland title. Co-manager Pat Collier reflected post-game.
I'm devastated. But tomorrow's another day, life will go on. As for the players - the 31 girls that have put Laois camogie back on the map - that's what my heart goes out for. We were probably 1 to 3 odds coming into this game but we knew if got our game plan right we would give Tipp a rattle. And we did give them a rattle and in the second half to be fair to Tipp they clawed their way back and got a few vital scores. I'm thrilled for the girls to get to this position this year, and by God they went down with all guns blazing.
