Focus now on winning group for Tipp Seniors against Kilkenny
By Joe Scully
Tipperary manager Denis Kelly was delighted with his sides win over Limerick as they secured qualification for the knockout stages of the All-Ireland Senior Camogie championship on Saturday.
The Toomevara clubman is very happy with how his squad is shaping up as we get down to the business end of the championship.
“We brought in five subs, and they all put their hand up,” he began.
“Some of the girls who didn’t get a run out today are in hard luck, any other team and they would be starting, so we have serious competition and back to the training ground Tuesday night and there will be serious fighting for positions, and that’s what you want, and when you have a competitive setup, you give yourself a great chance.”
Kelly was also delighted with his side’s ruthless performance and the manner of the win,
“We showed glimpses of real class there so happy with that,” Kelly added.
“I’m really happy with our charges, but we need to get our focus back now for Kilkenny next week which will be a tougher assignment.”
On the Kilkenny game which will decide who tops the group and goes straight into an All-Ireland semi-final, Kelly knows how big a game it is.
“We want to get straight into a semi-final,” Kelly said.
“But at the same time, if we don’t, we won’t panic either, but we are definitely through to a quarter final anyway, but the problem with a quarter final is it’s the week after the last game of the round-robin stages, so ideally you get that bit of a break, refresh and go again.
But at least were guaranteed a quarter-final place and that’s all that counts.”
Tipp’s four-goal scoring hero Grace O’Brien was also delighted with her sides win but played down her own contribution of 4-1.
“To be honest, it’s mostly the work done out the field,” said.
“I got popped the ball, so credit to the girls for the vision that they have, and just delighted I could finish them in the end.”
She added: “We were really focused on this game.”
“After our week off last week and we knew we had to get a result here, so just delighted to get over the line.”
The Nenagh native was also looking forward to the winner-takes-all encounter against Kilkenny next Saturday.
“Our goal this year is we want to get into an All-Ireland semi-final without playing a quarter-final first, so every day we go out trying to win and trying to improve,” she added.
“There were some good parts here today, but a lot to work on and we will have to fix that before next weekend going in against a class Kilkenny side.”
TIPPERARY v KILKENNY
County Camogie Grounds, The Ragg
Saturday, 29th June
Throw-in @ 4.00pm
Referee: Gavin Donegan (Dublin)