Karen Kennedy goal critical as Tipperary end long wait for a title

Yesterday, after a pulsating battle in the Division 1A league final against Galway, she won her first national medal. As the last person to go up the Hogan Stand and raise the cup aloft, the Moneygall maestro received the loudest cheer.

She helped see things out after coming on for the last 15 minutes or so. And the hugs with her parents, Eugene and Mary, were meaningful and emotional.

“It’s important to celebrate days like today,” said Ryan. “We know that there’s a big championship to come and that’s ultimately what we want. But to have these moments with our supporters. My mam and dad there. For 20 years, they’re travelling to every game. Never miss a game. This squad has had its ups and downs, it’s just lovely to have moments like this. Hopefully, we can build on it and take it into the championship.”

It could have gone very wrong as Galway moved six clear with 21 minutes gone – then in that period down the stretch where the Tribeswomen recovered from losing their own skipper Róisín Black to injury and the Karen Kennedy goal soon after to peg back a four-point deficit. But Tipp weren’t having it.

“That’s the strength in the squad now. We have been through those tough games. We’ve fallen short and had to dig deep. To come back like that, and then with such a close game, the resilience is in the team now. This is a strong, experienced squad now. It’s a massive boost. We’ve a huge championship to go.

“To even reach today was a great end to the league, but to come out of it with silverware after a tough game, getting over Galway in Croke Park – a huge battle – we’ll take it into the championship. We have to have full belief in ourselves now.

“We’ll celebrate today, but we’ll be straight back in during the week because what does it mean if we don’t produce in the summer.”

Manager Denis Kelly felt the circumstances of the win made it all the sweeter.

​“It went down to the wire, but with Galway, they don’t give anything soft. They’re a huge team. They’ll be back in the championship even stronger again. It was just about getting that rub of the green. We’re here a long time, we’re not getting over that line and eventually it just came for us today,” he said.

“The girls worked their socks off. We needed all our subs. We needed to make changes early. Some girls (were) disappointed they had to come (off) early, but that’s the way it goes. You have good days, you’ll have bad days. They’ll bounce back and go again. The main thing was we got the win today.

“We didn’t want the heroic defeat anymore. We’re sick of that. Too long that’s been said to us. We had huge performances all over the field and we needed them. The girls are a great bunch. As one of the lads said, it’s like a family at the moment, and with families come results, and we got the result today.”

Victory means the Premier are the first county outside of Cork, Galway and Kilkenny to be successful in one of senior camogie’s two marquee competitions since Wexford secured their All-Ireland three-in-a-row in 2012.

Karin Blair was the hero, as the scorer of the winning point in the 59th minute. But were many who deserve the garlands, Eimear McGrath among them. The Drom-Inch star converted eight frees, as Tipp made it back from the brink of being in real trouble: from six points down after 21 minutes to going in at the interval trailing by just 0-8 to 0-7.

Captain Karen Kennedy took the Player of the Match award thanks to some critical interventions, notably her point that ended Galway’s run of six straight scores that threatened serious separation.

From six down, Tipp closed the gap to 0-8 to 0-7 at the interval. After the restart, Kennedy was moved to edge of the square and her 38th-minute goal – around 60 seconds after she had notched her third point – helped Tipp move four clear.

There were some nervous moments, but ultimately the emotion was joy.

SCORERS – Tipperary: E McGrath 0-8(f); K Kennedy 1-3; C McCarthy, K Blaire 0-1 each. Galway: C Dolan 0-5(f); A O’Reilly, N Mallon 0-3 each; A Donohue, S McGrath, O McGrath, N Niland 0-1 each.

Tipperary: N Walsh, M Eviston, E Loughman, C McCarthy, C McIntyre, K Blair, E Cunneen, C Hennessy, T Ryan, C Maher, K Kennedy, G O’Brien, E Heffernan, E McGrath, R Howard. Subs: C Quirke for McIntyre, J Bourke for Cunneen (both 26), M Burke for O’Brien (43), M Ryan for T Ryan (51).

GALWAY: F Ryan, R Hanniffy, R Black, A Crowe, D Higgins, Á Keane, C Hickey, A Hesnan, A Starr, N McPeake, A O’Reilly, C Dolan, A Donohue, S McGrath, O McGrath. Subs: N Hanniffy for Black inj (36), N Kilkenny for Hesnan (42), N Mallon for Donohue (46), O Rabbitte for O’Reilly and S Rabbitte for McPeake (both 53).

REF: A Hogg (Clare)