Meath too strong for Cork in camogie

Meath secured top spot in the race for qualification from their group in the All-Ireland Intermediate Camogie Championship this afternoon at Trim with a hard-earned 3-9 to 0-17 victory against Cork.

Both teams took an unbeaten record into this third round tie and the win now sets Meath up nicely for qualification with games to come against Down and Carlow.

Meath had to survive intense late Cork pressure, but just when she needed to find a piece of magic, Jane Dolan fashioned a 60th minute goal and the hosts survived five added minutes to take the victory by the minimum.

Jane Dolan had the sliotar in the Cork net inside 50 seconds and Caroline Quinn added a second goal soon after as wind-assisted Meath established a 2-4 to 0-7 interval advantage and also tallied eight first-half wides.

Dolan, Aoife Minogue, Megan Thynne and Cheyanne O'Brien sent over the points while the Munster women kept in touch with a brace of points each from Katelynn Hickey and Rachel O'Shea and one apiece by Keeva McCarthy, Maeve McCarthy and Caroline Sugrue.

Meath were ahead by 2-8 to 0-9 by the three-quarter stage, but had to defend ferociously for the remainder with half-time substitute Kristina Troy picking up a yellow card and playing on the edge at times.

Eight final quarter Cork points left Meath hanging on, but the team now has plenty of grim determination and a fair bit of pace and those ingredients contributed enormoously to the win.

The outstanding Aoife Minogue claimed three second-half points with Thynne and Dolan also on the mark before Tynne made the opening for that late goal.

Meath - Emily Mangan; Emma Coffey, Ellen Burke, Claire's. Coffey; Aine Keogh, Aoife Maguire, Louise Donoghue; Cheyanne O'Brien, Maire Keogh; Megan Thynne (0-2), Aoife Minogue (0-4 two frees, one '45'), Amy Gaffney; Erin Leddy, Caroline Quinn (1-0), Jane Dolan (2-2). Subs - Kristina Troy for Leddy half-time, Sinead Hackett for Quinn 56 mins, Maeve Clince for M Keogh 58m.

Cork - A Lee;L Weste, S Harrington, N Ni Chaoimh; R Kileen, S Bickley, L Callanan; F Neville, J Barry; K Hickey (0-2), K McCarthy (0-6 four frees, one '45'), M McCarthy (0-1); R O'Shea (0-4 three frees), L Collins (0-2), C Sugrue (0-2). Subs - M Lynch for O'Shea 42 mins, H Ryan for M McCarthy 53m.

Referee - Aidan O'Brien.

RESULTS

First round - Meath 4-15, Laois 1-8; Cork 2-12, Galway 0-9; Down 3-11, Carlow 3-11.

Second round - Meath 1-15, Galway 2-7; Cork 1-11, Carlow 0-7; Down 2-11 Laois 1-14

SATURDAY 8th JULY
Third round - Meath 3-9, Cork 0-17; Down 3-19, Galway 5-10; Carlow v Laois (postponed)

NEXT UP

SATURDAY 22nd JULY
Meath v Down; Laois v Cork; Galway v Carlow.

SATURDAY 12th AUGUST
Carlow v Meath; Cork v Down; Laois v Galway