Waterford backed up their opening round win over Cork by completing the double over the 2025 All-Ireland finalists in Athenry today, holding Galway to just six scores in a tense Centra National League Division 1A clash.
For the opening half, Waterford played with the aid of a strong breeze, and Carrie Dolan’s free in the 13th minute was the only score from the All-Ireland champions, who found themselves snowbound in New York on their team holiday last week and only made their belated return late on Wednesday night.
Waterford’s defence held strong in the first quarter, and the use of a sweeper worked in their favour, leaving Galway’s inside attackers isolated and starved of possession.
Despite losing midfielder Abby Flynn to injury after 22 minutes, a significant blow given her strong influence on the game, stalwarts Beth Carton and Niamh Rockett continued to lead Waterford from the front in the first half, with Carton earning several frees that Rockett popped over, building towards a 0-8 to 0-1 interval lead.
Early scores from Galway after half-time shifted the game’s momentum, most notably a long-range Niamh Mallon free that caught the breeze and dipped under the crossbar to evade Waterford goalie, Noelle Murphy.
Mallon scored another point from a free to cut the gap to a single score, but Waterford’s Mairéad O' Brien replied quickly with a clutch point that rallied the troops. Player of the match, Eimear O' Neill’s driving solo run to set up a Rockett point, followed by a Lorraine Bray score with a little under ten minutes remaining, was enough to give the Déise sufficient cushion to withstand Galway’s late pressure and nudge them to the top of that table with two wins from two games, 0-12 to 1-5 the final score.
After the game, Galway Bay FM's Tommy Devane spoke to the Galway Senior Camogie manager Cathal Murray...
