Devane rescues a draw for Tipp

CAMOGIE: Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Senior Championship Group 1 Round 2

Dublin 0-10

Tipperary 0-10

Report: Thomas Conway at Parnell Park

MATCH DIGEST

Player of the Match: Aisling Maher (Dublin)

SCORERS – Dublin: Aisling Maher 0-4 (2 frees), Aisling O’Neill 0-2; Jody Couch, Kerrie Finnegan, Ali Twomey, Niamh Gannon 0-1 each.

Tipperary: Cáit Devane 0-7 frees; Grace O’Brien, Claire Hogan, Niamh Treacy 0-1 each.

A last-ditch long-distance Cáit Devane free, in the fourth minute of stoppage time, secured Tipperary a crucial draw in their latest All-Ireland Championship clash, leaving them still in search of a win ahead of the visit of Waterford next weekend.

On a bumper weekend of sport, this meeting of Tipperary and Dublin was never going to rank as the showpiece spectacle on Saturday. Because let’s face it, in the big wide sporting world most eyes were probably elsewhere - on the Leinster Final double-header in Croke Park or the Champions Cup finale in Marseille or the clash of two soccer titans in Paris.

Yet this game was still significant, and despite the thinly dispersed crowd or the relatively tame atmosphere, both sides managed to deliver enough excitement to satisfy any sporting enthusiast.

Tipp entered the fixture needing a win. They departed Parnell Park with two points less, but, given the general complexion of the game and the nature of the climax, Bill Mullaney and his management team will probably have been somewhat content with the final outcome.

After all, were it not for the ice-cool composure and unflappable accuracy of Cáit Devane, they would have lost this game. It was her free, struck from near the halfway line, which secured a precious point for the Premier.

Just moments earlier, it seemed as if Dublin had snatched victory, their combative centre-forward Niamh Gannon heroically whisking up possession, sliding through a pocket of players, and slotting a brilliant individual effort over the bar from 45 metres.

Gannon was indeed impressive, but she was not Dublin’s main attacking threat. Beside her in the half-forward line, Aisling Maher was ruthlessly effective, smashing through the Tipp defence at every opportunity. Full-forward Aisling O’Neill was similarly treacherous, forcing the Tipp full-back line to remain hyper-vigilant throughout. Both contributed eye-catching scores in the early stages, Maher breaking down the far wing and snapping a shot over from the side-line, before O’Neill landed another from the same flank, intelligently stepping inside to create space and firing over off her left. Parnell Park is famed for its compact pitch, and hence, this was always going to be a low-scoring affair, a game of exceptionally tight margins.

By the fifteenth minute Tipp were trailing 0-3 to 0-1. They were struggling to grapple with a frighteningly physical Dublin side which were dominating the middle third and surging forward with power and pace.

Strangely, the Tipp performance didn’t improve all that much in the period prior to half-time, but their scoring efficiency did. Devane’s frees were indispensable, as they always are, but Tipp worked hard to earn them. Clodagh McIntyre was given a licence to roam out the field while Claire Hogan and Devane remained in situ near the goalposts. The tactic wasn’t a masterstroke, but it created enough space for Grace O’Brien to press forward and sweep over a sweet effort in the run-up to the interval. Hogan would add another seconds later, bustling into a channel on the right-hand side. Her strike would level the score at five points apiece, following a first-half in which Dublin’s physical superiority had been visibly evident, yet remarkably ineffective.

Tipp flickered into life momentarily after the break, bursting forward with purpose and confronting the Dublin half-back line. Rather than penetrate however, each surge was repelled, bounced backwards by a wall of light blue shirts. On the one occasion they made the incision, when Devane played in Eimear Loughman, the corner-back should have done better. Her shot lacked venom and was calmly dealt with by Eabha Mooney, marking the start of a period of Dublin dominance. Substitute Kerrie Finnegan slotted a neat point, and then came a moment which seemed like it might consign Tipp to defeat.

Roisin Howard truly believed she did not deserve a straight red card. She protested against it stridently, as did manager Bill Mullaney, but the decision was made and the colour issued, leaving Tipp with fourteen players and emboldening Dublin to attack with greater force.

They did so successfully, for a few minutes at least, Maher landing a free and Ali Twomey zipping another over from play, catapulting Dublin into a 0-9 to 0-6 lead. If the last ten minutes was framed as a test of fortitude and resolve, then Tipp passed it with flying colours. They looked dead and buried after Twomey’s point, but they kept plugging away - Devane slotted a free, before Niamh Treacy, who had suddenly appeared from the side-line, whisked over a gem of a point in the 55th minute.

Another placed-ball from the imperturbable Devane placed the sides level, approaching the sixtieth minute, and if referee Liz Dempsey had sounded the whistle there and then, the game would have gone down as a contest worth watching. However, there were two final twists, two final scores to bookend the drama, and one single point for either side.

TEAMS - Dublin: Eabha Mooney (7), Roisin Baker (6), Eva O’Brien (7), Muireann Kelleher (6), Leah Butler (7), Hannah Hegarty (8), Emma O’Byrne (7), Orla Gray (7), Gaby Couch (7), Aisling Maher (9), Niamh Gannon (8), Jody Couch (7), Elyse Jamieson-Murphy (6), Aisling O’Neill (8), Ali Twomey (7).

Subs: Kerrie Finnegan (8) for Couch (39); Emma Flanagan for O’Byrne (blood, 50-52); Emma Flanagan (7) for Butler (53); Aisling Gannon (NR) for Twomey (60+1).

Tipperary: Áine Slattery (Shannon Rovers 8), Julieanne Bourke (Borris-Ileigh, J-Capt 8), Mary Ryan (Moneygall 7), Eimear Loughman (Clonoulty/Rossmore 6), Ciardha Maher (Burgess/Duharra 7), Aoife McGrath (Drom & Inch 6), Mairead Eviston (Drom & Inch 6), Grace O’Brien (Nenagh Eire Og, J-Capt, 7), Caoimhe Maher (Burgess/Duharra 7), Nicole Walsh (Borris-Ileigh 6), Roisin Howard (Cahir 6), Eimear McGrath (Drom & Inch 7), Claire Hogan (St Cillian’s 7), Cáit Devane (Clonoulty/Rossmore 8), Clodagh McIntyre (Lorrha 6).

Subs: Casey Hennessy (Clonoulty/Rossmore 6) for McIntyre (43); Ereena Fryday (Knockavilla Kickhams 7) for Hogan (43); Niamh Treacy (Drom & Inch 8) for Walsh (49); Clodagh Quirke (Clonoulty/Rossmore NR) for Eviston (60+3).

Referee: Liz Dempsey (Kilkenny).