Fiona Nelligan lived out the spirit of “don’t count your minutes, make your minutes count” for Cork’s intermediate camogs this afternoon in Croke Park, as the Charleville player popped up with the decisive score to give the Rebels the Glen Dimplex All-Ireland intermediate title for the fifth time in their history and first since 2018.
With just under ten minutes remaining, Claire Doheny pounced on a breaking ball, capitalising on tigerish work from full-forward Caroline Kennedy and fired over what looked like a crucial point to nudge Kilkenny 1-10 to 1-8 in front.
However the closing stages of the contest were dominated by Donie Daly’s Cork side, at both ends of the field.
Lauren Homan, top scorer in the championship as a whole, had played well but hadn’t dominated the game as much as some of her other contests this year. That didn’t affect her composure as she stood over a free on the 20m line, right out on the Hogan stand sideline, and split the uprights to start their rally.
Three Cork defenders converging to block down Niamh Crowley and then Tara McCarthy hooking Doheny to prevent a score from the subsequent break summed up Cork’s ravenous desire to force the issue their way, and that effort was rewarded when Cliona O’Callaghan strode through to fire over the equaliser.
With the wind at their backs and four minutes of stoppage time to play, by now it was Kilkenny who would have gladly listened to Brian Kearney’s final whistle and reset themselves for a replay next weekend in Thurles.
A high pressure catch from Cliona Murphy on a hanging shot from O’Callaghan, as well as a brave block from Mairéad Kennedy, seemed like the plays that would secure that second chance, but instead a poorly-placed clearance saw the sliotar drop into Nelligan’s hand, and in her tenth minute on the field, she duly split the posts for the biggest score of the game.
The drama of the closing stages was matched in the opening quarter, with Cork edging the first 17 minutes of play by 0-5 to 0-4.
Kilkenny had the larger share of possession in the early minutes but took on some low percentage shots, missing the target three times before Doheny pointed to cancel out Cliona Dooley’s opener.
Rachel Dowling and Doheny added the next two as Kilkenny continued to control both puckout battles, but once the chances started to slow at the other end, Homan settled into her work, and a brace of sharp scores from Niamh O’Regan were enough to give Cork the narrowest of half-time leads, 0-7 to 0-6.
The story of the third quarter was one of two preventable goals, one from O’Callaghan that was well-placed into the right hand corner at the Davin End, but lacking the power that should have been needed to evade Cliona Murphy.
Ciara Hurley will have been every bit as disappointed with her failure to deal with Danielle Morrissey’s high shot that dipped onto her hurley just under the crossbar, but skidded up and into the roof of the net, allowing Kilkenny to move 1-9 to 1-7 ahead, having already responded to O’Callaghan’s goal with two frees from Morrissey.
By now, both sides were operating with an extra player in the full-back line, as the tension of the occasion took over and scoring chances dried up. Between wides, scores, saves and shots dropped short, there were just 19 shots on goal in total in the second half, and that should have suited Kilkenny just fine.
Instead, an ice-cool freetaker, a frenzied defensive unit and a game-changing sub were about to write a different conclusion to the story of a drama-filled final.
SCORERS FOR CORK: L Homan 0-6 (5f)s; C O’Callaghan 1-1; N O’Regan 0-2; C Dooley, F Nelligan 0-1 each
SCORERS FOR KILKENNY: D Morrissey 1-4 (0-3fs); C Doheny 0-3, R Dowling, C Comerford, H Scott 0-1 each
