by Kevin Egan

On a day when meaningful senior inter-county action resumed for the first time since Galway pipped Cork in last year’s thrilling All-Ireland senior final, the two counties both succumbed to defeat in the first round of the Centra National Camogie League, with Tipperary taking top spot in Division 1A on the back of their commanding performance against Antrim in Cushendun.

The O’Duffy Cup holders had home advantage against Kilkenny in Ballinasloe and they got out to a dream start when Carrie Dolan – scorer of that memorable winning point in Croke Park last August – found the net inside a minute of action at Duggan Park.

Kilkenny responded well with the next two points from Aoife Prendergast and Laura Greene, and the Cats were back on level terms by the midway point in the first half when Sarah Barcoe split the uprights with a neat swing of the wrists in traffic.

The Cats produced their best hurling in the ten minutes before half-time but going into injury time, it looked like Galway had held out well, conceding just two frees to Prendergast.

Then Asha McHardy found the net to make it a four-point game and give Kilkenny something to defend as they turned around to play into the diagonal breeze.

It was a strong Galway team with nine starters from last year’s All-Ireland final, though just three of those were in the back seven. Still Róisín Black and Ciara Hickey were strong along the spine of the defence while Kilkenny’s starting full-forward line didn’t score from play.

After falling 1-8 to 1-3 behind with 34 minutes gone, Galway came like a train with five points in a row, including two from play from the impressive Niamh Niland, but their good work was undone by Caoimhe Keher Murtagh’s goal early in the final quarter.

Prendergast scored a free and a 45 to bring her tally to 0-7 and that was just about enough to enable Kilkenny to hold off a late push from Galway to win by 2-11 to 1-13.

Cork went with a very different approach in Azzurri Walsh Park, lining out just four of their team from last year’s final and Waterford didn’t need to be asked twice to take advantage, picking up a 1-12 to 0-9 win.

After the first two points of the game were shared, Beth Carton hit her stride with the breeze behind her, scoring five of her 0-7 total from play in the first 22 minutes to put Waterford six points clear.

Early points for Niamh McNabola and Keeva McCarthy suggested Cork might rally with the wind helping their cause, but a goal that will surely appear on everyone’s social media feed after 38 minutes completely turned the game. On her knees between three Cork defenders, Niamh Rockett struck a looping shot from the left corner that sailed over the head of Amy Lee and into the Cork goal, restoring the Déise’s six-point advantage.

Ger Manley swapped out five of his starting six forwards with Ava McAuliffe and Isobel Sheehan both getting on the scoreboard, but the Rebels still couldn’t get going up front and a 14-minute scoring drought left them with too much to do.

In Cushendun, Tipperary surged to the top of the league with a 2-19 to 0-9 win over Antrim, but Saffron manager Elaine Dowds will still take some encouragement from an encouraging performance from her newly-promoted charges.

Tipp hit 1-3 in four minutes before half-time, their goal from Caoimhe Stakelum, and that effectively sealed the Premier County’s win. Nicole McAtamney hit one of her five frees after half-time and Maeve Kelly followed up with a point to make it 1-10 to 0-6, but Tipp had too many weapons with Stakelum (1-4), Róisín Howard (0-2), Clodagh McIntyre (0-3), Eimear McGrath (0-3), Kate Ralph (0-2) and Caoimhe McCarthy (0-2) scoring well.

Niamh Treacy made her four-minute cameo appearance count, hitting the game’s second goal in stoppage time.

In Division 1B, Clare took a point from their trip to Abbotstown in Dublin, Limerick edged out Down and Wexford were impressive in seeing off Offaly in Enniscorthy.

Centra National League Results:

DIVISION 1A
Antrim 0-9 Tipperary 2-19
Waterford 1-12 Cork 0-9
Galway 1-13 Kilkenny 2-11

DIVISION 1B
Wexford 2-14 Offaly 0-8
Dublin 0-16 Clare 1-13
Limerick 0-12 Down 0-10

DIVISION 2A
Derry 0-16 Carlow 1-12
Kerry 0-11 Laois 0-11
Westmeath 1-6 Meath 2-9

DIVISION 3A
Tyrone 3-14 Wicklow 3-6
Roscommon v Kildare POSTPONED

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