Ralph never doubted Stakelum wouldn’t score last gasp free

By Joe Scully

“Never doubted her for one minute, never doubted her at all,” - the words of Tipperary minor manager Ray Ralph of Caoimhe Stakelum after her late monstrous free earned her side a share of the spoils in the All-Ireland group stage game with Kilkenny on Sunday.

“You knew by her she had her game face on, and she was going to put it over the bar, and nothing was going to stop her, and straight over the black spot it went.

“I was standing right behind her, it was a great score, so it was tremendous, and she showed great courage to take it on, especially in the circumstances, as a loss would have put us in trouble in the championship.”

The Moycarkey/Borris native was also delighted with how his side came back in the game after a poor opening twenty minutes, where Kilkenny were the dominant side and looked like they were going to pull away and win with ease.

“Delighted with the draw,” he revealed.

“We didn’t play well in the first twenty minutes, they dictated the whole game, they won all the puckouts and we didn’t win our own. But we changed things around, and the girls fought as if their lives depended on it, and look Kilkenny are a good team a serious outfit, but our girls battled it out and we got a point out of it and we are delighted with

that.”

Ralph felt it was his sides goal scored by Elana McGrath in the 22nd minute was the turning point.

“The goal brought us back into it, it changed the game, the game was getting away from us till that point but after that the girls fought for everything, and we got a few girls on too and they chipped away, and all made a difference,” he said.