‘I think we deserve it this year’ - Mullaney
TIPPERARY manager Bill Mullaney was delighted with his side's victory as they qualified for the Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Junior Camogie final following their one-point victory over Armagh on Saturday, and the chance for his side to avenge last year’s final defeat.
By Joe Scully
“Yeah, look, I think we deserve it this year, getting to the final, but there’s no guarantee of anything by getting there and we will have to go out and earn it. Laois will be a serious test and we will have to play better than today, and we will have to go out and show up on the day.”
“I mightn’t be over ecstatic with the overall performance, but delighted with the result, but it's something to work on; it shows were not perfect. I thought the girls in the second half really nailed down a lot better; we got our game going more rather than been dictated to by Armagh like we were in the first half. We played through the lines a lot more and controlled the game a bit better.”
The Newport Ballinahinch native was delighted with the impact of Laura Shinners when she was introduced at half-time. “Yeah, Shinners is a savage hurler and she’s been brilliant for us all year. She’s been carrying a knock all year so we can only get 30 to 40 minutes out of her a game, but when she does come on, she changes games and has a strong influence on it. I thought Jenny (Grace) and Sinead (Meagher) held the ball up when we got it into them and generated frees, which got us key scores.”Also speaking in the aftermath team captain Sinéad Meaghar was delighted to be through to an All-Ireland final. “It’s unbelievable, like I can’t even put it into words right now. I’m still focused on those last few minutes; it just went past us so quickly and it could have gone anyway. But we did what we had to do and now were in an All-Ireland final on the 11th of August and I couldn’t be any happier.”
However, Meaghar knows Tipp will have to up their performance ahead of the final. “Look, we know we need to do better than today; there’s no point saying otherwise, but delighted to get the win and that’s all we cared about was getting over the line and being in the final in three weeks.”Player of the match Orla O’Brien was delighted with her own performance but was quick to thank her teammate also. “Yeah, I was happy with my own performance, but it was all the girls around me that helped me through it today, and our work rate was right up there today, and that’s what got us over the line today.” O’Brien knows that Laois will be a tough test for her side in the final in three weeks’ time but knows they just need to focus on themselves and what they can bring to the table, “Yeah it will be a tough game against Laois, we seen them today and their performance, but we know we just have to focus on what we can do, so back to training Tuesday night and working hard for the next three weeks and drive each other on and hopefully get over the line in the final.”