Athenry (Galway) 1-09 Dicksboro (Kilkenny) 0-10
St Finbarr's (Cork) 3-15 Loughgiel Shamrocks (Antrim) 3-14
Two thrilling semi-finals saw Athenry (Galway) and St Finbarr's (Cork) secure their passage through to the AIB All-Ireland Senior Club Camogie final at Croke Park in a fortnight.
Athenry edged out Dicksboro in a defensive battle at Kinnegad, while Ciara Golden etched her name into the history of the famous Leeside club with the winning score against Loughgiel Shamrocks at the end of extra, extra time in Donoughmore-Ashbourne.
It finished 3-15 to 3-14 to the Barrs in a contest that started brightly and gathered more and more momentum from there at the well-appointed Meath venue.
St Finbarr’s had the aid of a slight breeze in the opening half and they didn’t waste it, with Orlaith Cahalane firing in an early goal, after fielding Keeva McCarthy’s long sideline cut.
It looked like the breaks were going the way of the Cork and Munster champions when Ciara Hurley blocked a Caitrin Dobbin goal chance at one end and Sorcha McCartan fired in the Barrs’ second goal at the other, but an inspirational score from Lucia McNaughton reduced the lead to four points and gave Loughgiel plenty of cause for optimism at the turnaround.
Hurley continued to play a vital role, making two more saves early in the second half including a fine stop to deny Katie McKillop, but pressure was building as Loughgiel started to turn the screw. With ten minutes remaining, Róisín McCormack finally found a way to fire the sliotar past Hurley and put the wind-assisted Ulster club a point in front.
Cahalane and McCarthy settled the Barrs with points however, and it was Loughgiel who were more relieved to force extra time, Amy Boyle’s equaliser making it 2-07 to 1-10 after regulation time.
McCartan pointed for St Finbarr’s to kick off extra time but goals from Annie Lynn and Dobbin in either half once again put Shamrocks in control, only for the noise levels in the stadium to reach new heights when Eimear Hurley cancelled that out with a goal of her own.
Frees from McCarthy and Róisín McCormick, who ended the game with 1-09 in all, meant that the players had to go back to the well yet again.
With reserves of strength visibly on both sides draining despite the best efforts of the crowd to keep driving on their heroes, McCormick and Cahalane traded points in the second half of extra, extra-time to set the stage for Golden to pounce on Cahalane’s delivery and coolly stroke the ball over from 30 metres out to bring a remarkable afternoon’s action to a close.
The contest in Kinnegad was no less tense and dramatic despite being much more defensive in nature, as evidenced by a final score of 1-09 to 0-10 in favour of Athenry.
2023 All-Ireland champions Dicksboro made the stronger start with Rachel Dowling, Aoife Prendergast, Amy Clifford and Jenny Clifford all on target as the Kilkenny club burst out of the blocks with four points in six minutes.
The Dervla Higgins-inspired Athenry defence got to grips with things from here however and they were right back in the game when midway through the half.
A long shot from Eimear Keane came back into play off the post and Jessica Gill was on hand to sweep home the game’s only goal.
Therese Donoghue and Clodagh Burke added points in the second quarter as Athenry took a narrow 1-04 to 0-06 lead into the dressing room after hurling into a difficult wind.
That lead was doubled by Eva McGlynn after half-time but outstanding free taking from Aoife Prendergast kept Dicksboro in a game where scores grew increasingly hard to come by.
Higgins, Sinéad Feeney and top scorer Sabina Rabbitte were among the stars for Joe Rabbitte's charges as Athenry outscored their opponents by 0-03 to 0-01 in the final quarter to back up their historic win over reigning All-Ireland champions Sarsfields in the Galway final and secure their passage to Jones' Road.
