Camogie round-up: ‘We weren’t at the races’ – Galway boss Cathal Murray issues rallying cry after loss to champs Cork

Galway manager Cathal Murray has backed his charges to consign Saturday’s listless effort against Cork to the dustbin and put their best foot forward against Waterford in next Sunday’s Glen Dimplex All-Ireland quarter-final at Croke Park (1.30).

Murray is backing knockout competition to bring the best out of his crew, but they will have to improve considerably on the 2-16 to 1-7 loss at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh, which means they must line out again eight days later, while the champions will have four weeks off before the All-Ireland semi-final double-header at Nowlan Park on July 27.

Tipperary will play in the other penultimate outing, as a result of their 1-15 to 0-15 triumph over Kilkenny at The Ragg, while the Cats will play Dublin in the first of the quarter-finals at Croke Park on Saturday (12.30).

It was the result by the river Lee that raised most eyebrows, however, and Murray did not attempt to put a gloss on it when speaking to Galway Bay FM.

“Hard to put in words,” the Sarsfields man admitted. “Cork were the better team by a long, long way. We just weren’t at the races. There were a lot of good performances, but as a team, we were poor and never got out of the blocks.

“We don’t have much time to feel sorry for ourselves. It’s going to be a massive task and we’re going to have to be an awful lot better or we’re in serious trouble.”

An ankle injury to veteran Ann Marie Starr, who re-established herself in the side this year after a few years on the sidelines, didn’t help, but Murray wasn’t looking for handy escape clauses.

“There’s nothing broken, but it might be ligaments and if it is, she’s facing a few weeks on the sideline, her year could be over. We’re hoping against hope that’s not the case.”

Not for the first time, Katrina Mackey and Amy O’Connor did most of the attacking damage, while Aoife Healy earned the player-of-the-match plaudits, carrying on this year where she left off in a brilliant breakthrough season with her prodigious work rate and clever supply.

“We kind of feed off the pressure [of being champions],” Healy said. “We have a lot of people backing us and that kind of thing will be driving you on. We’ll put in a good shift over the next few weeks and we’ll be all set in four weeks.”

Tipperary had to fight hard to hold off a resolute wind-backed Kilkenny in the second half, having led at the break by ten points, but Karin Blair’s first-half goal kept the league champions’ noses in front, by 1-15 to 0-15. It was a first championship victory for Tipperary in 12 years over the Stripeywomen.

Beth Carton scored 2-8 as Waterford beat Derry 3-15 to 0-6 and Dublin joined them in the last six when proving far too strong for Down by 4-19 to 0-6. That consigned the Mourne outfit to relegation, which is also the fate of Antrim after Limerick prevailed in their bottom-of-the-table encounter by 2-17 to 3-12.

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