That’s it from us for now but stay with us across the evening for lots more reaction and analysis from Croke Park.
Commiserations to Kilkenny on another agonising defeat, but congrats to Cork on a record 28th All-Ireland senior title.
What a day for Cork camogie. This wasn’t a classic by any stretch of the imagination but that hardly matters — the O’Duffy Cup is heading back to Leeside again for the winter!
Here’s that winning point from Orla Cotter deep into additional time:
Orla Cotter fires over the winning point in the 2018 senior camogie final #rtegaa pic.twitter.com/RnOdJnyLrM
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) September 9, 2018
CORK ARE THE 2018 ALL-IRELAND SENIOR CAMOGIE CHAMPIONS!
FULL TIME: Cork 0-14 Kilkenny 0-13
Aisling Thompson intercepts – and wins the free! Surely that’s it?!
Kilkenny ball… but do they have time?
Cork are really running the clock here. The two minutes have already been played. Chloe Sigerson takes an eternity over a sideline cut, and before she hits it, Leanne O’Sullivan goes down holding her ankle.
Will Kilkenny get a shot to equalise?
Ohhhh, was that the chance? Claire Phelan, up from wing-back, puts it wide. They need possession and they need it now. Time is running out.
Cork 0-14 Kilkenny 0-13: COTTER SCORES! Kilkenny have a minute to find their equaliser…
Orla Cotter wins a free for Cork. Ann Downey is raging but Cotter will have a chance to possibly win it for Cork…
There’ll be two additional minutes to play here. Plenty of time for a winner, surely?
Cork 0-13 Kilkenny 0-13: Denise Gaule levels it again! Her 10th point of the game. A relatively simple free after Laura Treacy brings down Anna Farrell, but Gaule holds her nerve. A minute to play!
Cork 0-13 Kilkenny 0-12: HUGE! Chloe Sigerson from inside her own half. Cork lead with two minutes to play!
Kilkenny 0-12 Cork 0-12: All square! Amy O’Connor peels deep and points. Great work by Julia White to set her up.
Clear free as Shelly Farrell thunders through the back of Orla Cotter. Cork will have a chance to build from midfield. They haven’t scored in more than 12 minutes.
Edwina Keane carries the ball out from the back and Orla Cronin tackles her high with her hurl wrapped around Keane’s neck. Yellow for Cronin.
Kilkenny 0-12 Cork 0-11: Denise Gaule points the 45 and Kilkenny lead again. Eight minutes on the clock.
SAVE! Anna Farrell loses her hurl but puts boot to ball and still forces a save from Aoife Murray. As the ball pings around, Murray needs to look lively again and does well to make a second stick save and turn the ball behind.
Huge let-off for Kilkenny as Orla Cotter misses a very scoreable free. Inside the last 10 minutes and this is going right to the wire…
Cork sub: Lauren Homan comes on in the full-forward line in place of Linda Collins.
Cork 0-11 Kilkenny 0-11: Soft free for Kilkenny and Denise Gaule doesn’t need to be asked twice. All square.
Grace Walsh hares out from the back, balancing the sliotar on the bás of her hurl. She plays a one-two with Denise Gaule and carries on the run, but just as she goes to get the shot away, she’s blocked down by Orla Cotter. Smashing block.
Cork 0-11 Kilkenny 0-10: Great vision from Anne Dalton who picks out Megan Farrell in space with a crossfield pass. Farrell steadies herself, shoots and scores. One-point game.
Denise Gaule drops a ball towards the Cork goal, but for every Kilkenny jersey, there appears to be two in the red of Cork.
Anne Dalton hits a long, hopeful ball towards goal but there’s nobody inside for Kilkenny and it bobbles harmlessly wide.
Cork 0-11 Kilkenny 0-9: A little bit of the zip has gone out of this, and it’s becoming a battle of the free-takers again. Orla Cotter puts Cork two to the good.
Denise Gaule stands over one of her easier efforts of the day but she pulls it wide, much to the delight of the Cork full-back line. It’s a bad miss.
Cork 0-10 Kilkenny 0-9: Kilkenny give away a soft free and Orla Cotter punishes them. Cork inch in front again.
Denise Gaule hits Kilkenny’s fifth wide of the day; Cork, for their part, have only had the two so far.
Katie Power was camped on the edge of the square for much of the first half but now she’s dropped a bit deeper to forage and wins brilliant possession with a well-timed hook. It sets Anne Dalton off towards goal but she has precious little by way of support and loses possession before she can make it count.
Today’s attendance in Croke Park is 21,467.
Cork 0-9 Kilkenny 0-9: Point number seven for Denise Gaule as she fires over an equalising free.
Kilkenny sub: Miriam Walsh comes on to replace Michelle Quilty.
Dogged, determined defending from Kilkenny as they shut down Cork at every turn and eventually win the turnover for overcarrying.
Cork 0-9 Kilkenny 0-8: Super work from Julia White. She picks out Katrina Mackey, and Mackey points her second of the day.
SECOND HALF: We’re back underway. Will this pick up again where the first half finished off?
HALF TIME: Kilkenny 0-8 Cork 0-8
Kilkenny 0-8 Cork 0-8: And another for Cronin! This game has finally sparked to life in the final few minutes of the half with some great scores. They’ll go in level at the break.
Kilkenny 0-8 Cork 0-7: Orla Cronin gets one back for Cork before the sides head in at the break.
Kilkenny 0-8 Cork 0-6: What a score! Anne Dalton picks out Denise Gaule, and from all of 70 metres, Gaule bombs a huge point over the bar.
Kilkenny 0-7 Cork 0-6: Kilkenny get their noses back in front for the first time since the third minute, thanks to another Denise Gaule free.
Kilkenny try to pick out Katie Power again with a long ball to the edge of the square but this time, Pamela Mackey wins that individual battle.
Cork 0-6 Kilkenny 0-6: Denise Gaule has a free out under the Hogan Stand and she makes no mistake. All square again, but this final hasn’t really caught fire yet.
Cork 0-6 Kilkenny 0-5: Denise Gaule points a free to bring Kilkenny back within a single point.
Cork 0-6 Kilkenny 0-4: Katrina Mackey gets her first of the day — and also Cork’s first from play.
Cork 0-5 Kilkenny 0-4: Chloe Sigerson lines up another free from outside the 65 and this one is bang on the money. Sigerson’s two from four now, I think.
Kilkenny take a quick free short to Anne Dalton, who gets herself wide open in space, but she can’t find the target.
Yellow card for Katie Power — not for the tangle but because, as she got back to her feet, she picked up Aoife Murray’s hurl and tossed it away. Well spotted by the officials.
Aoife Murray is down in front of her goal in need of attention. She tangled with Katie Power as a high ball dropped. Pamela Mackey cleaned up the mess but whatever way Murray fell, she is slow to get up.
Cork 0-4 Kilkenny 0-4: All square! Very direct stuff from Kilkenny — Emma Kavanagh takes the puckout short to Catherine Foley, Foley booms it deep into Kilkenny territory, and Julie Ann Malone scoops up the breaking ball, turns and scores.
Chloe Sigerson launches another long free towards goal but it doesn’t have the accuracy and drops harmlessly wide.
Chance for Gaule to level things up but her free is right and wide. Cork lead by a point midway through the first half.
Cork 0-4 Kilkenny 0-3: Smart stop by Aoife Murray to deny Kilkenny a goal. Denise Gaul points the 45 to cut the deficit to one.
Cork 0-4 Kilkenny 0-2: Magnificent fielding by Katie Power who plucks a high ball from the sky under serious attention from Pamela Mackey. Mackey brings her down as they tangle, and Denise Gaule points the free.
Cork 0-4 Kilkenny 0-1: Cork are making sure that they punish every free that Kilkenny concede. Again, into the breeze, Orla Cotter points one from the 45 line.
POINT! Cork 0-3 Kilkenny 0-1: Cork keeper Aoife Murray comes up the pitch and she blasts the ball over the bar. A bit of a let-off for Kilkenny — but they might feel that justice was done after a harsh penalty.
PENALTY FOR CORK!
Early drama in Croke Park and referee Eamon Cassidy and his team of officials are at the thick of it.
Cork’s Amy O’Connor makes a direct run towards the Kilkenny goal but after she’s hooked by Anne Dalton and the ball drops to the ground, Denise Gaule — tracking back — clatters into her. It’s a heavy hit but appears innocuous enough. But after discussing with his umpires behind the Davin Stand goal, Cassidy awards a penalty!
Cork 0-2 Kilkenny 0-1: Catherine Foley is whistled for a foul on Linda Collins. Orla Cotter makes no mistake with the free from in front of the posts.
Lovely hook by Davina Tobin to stop Julia White just as she was about to pull the trigger.
Another chance for Chloe Sigerson from a placed ball. Again, there’s no question about the distance — even facing into the breeze — but it drifts just wide of the posts.
Kilkenny 0-1 Cork 0-1: Chloe Sigerson has found her range nice and early. She fires over a free from out the field and it has plenty to spare as it drops over the Kilkenny crossbar. All square.
Kilkenny 0-1 Cork 0-0: First blood to Kilkenny inside 20 seconds. Ann Dalton bursts forward with the ball, pops it off to Michelle Quilty, and Quilty slots the game’s opening score.
THROW IN: We’re underway in the All-Ireland final. Kilkenny, shooting into the Hill, have the breeze at their backs.
Few expect there to be more than a score or two either way between the teams this afternoon but, when it comes to readers of The42, there’s a strong preference for Cork. Here are the latest numbers from this morning’s poll:
President Michael D. Higgins is out on the Croke Park pitch meeting the teams. If you’re searching for some final pre-match reading, here’s Cork’s Julia White speaking to Daragh Ó Conchuir:
THEY WERE HORRIFIED when she flashed over that injury-time winner last year and will be desperate to prevent a repeat tomorrow but at least a couple of the Kilkenny players will have had understood the journey Julia White travelled to even be togged out in Croke Park last September.
It was towards the end of 2015 and the Cork attacker had the world at her feet. She had bagged her fourth Liberty Insurance All-Ireland senior camogie championship medal and started a new job teaching in Kilkenny city’s famed Loreto nursery.
Looking to make some friends in a new place, she joined up with a seven-a-side soccer crew that included Anne Dalton and Denise Gaule. They were there the Saturday her Achilles tendon snapped.
Both managers — Cork’s Paudie Murray and Kilkenny’s Ann Downey — have been speaking to RTÉ ahead of throw-in:
Managers' view - Paudie Murray and Ann Downey both focused on the job in hand ahead of @CorkCamogie v @KilkennyCamogie in the senior final #rtegaa pic.twitter.com/FRaILUVO2I
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) September 9, 2018
TEAM NEWS: One change as well for Kilkenny — Edwina Keane gets the nod over corner-forward Miriam Walsh.
Kilkenny
1. Emma Kavanagh (Rower-Inistoge)
2. Collette Dormer (Paulstown/Goresbridge)
3. Catherine Foley (Windgap)
4. Grace Walsh (Tullaroan)
5. Claire Phelan (Lisdowney)
6. Anne Dalton (St Lachtain’s Freshford)
7. Davina Tobin (Emeralds)
8. Anna Farrell (Thomastown)
9. Meighan Farrell (Thomastown)
10. Julie Ann Malone (Mullinavat)
11. Katie Power (Piltown)
12. Denise Gaule (Windgap)
13. Shelly Farrell (Thomastown)
14. Michelle Quilty (Mullinavat)
19. Edwina Keane (St Martin’s)
TEAM NEWS: Two late changes for defending champions Cork — Leanne O’Sullivan and Linda Collins come in for Niamh O’Callaghan and Niamh McCarthy.
Cork
1. Aoife Murray (Cloughduv)
17. Leanne O’Sullivan (Glen Rovers)
3. Laura Treacy (Killeagh)
4. Pamela Mackey (Douglas)
5. Libby Coppinger (St Colums)
6. Gemma O’Connor (St Finbarrs)
7. Chloe Sigerson (Killeagh)
8. Julia White (Douglas)
9. Ashling Thompson (Milford)
10. Amy O’Connor (St Vincent’s)
11. Orla Cronin (Enniskeane)
12. Orla Cotter (St Catherines)
13. Katrina Mackey (Douglas)
20. Linda Collins (Courcey Rovers)
15. Hannah Looney (Killeagh)
These two need no introduction.
For the third straight year, and for the fourth time in four seasons, fierce rivals Kilkenny and Cork meet in the All-Ireland senior camogie final.
It was Kilkenny’s day in 2016 before Gemma O’Connor and Julia White’s heroics 12 months ago steered the Rebels to a sweet success.
Who will come out on top this afternoon? Throw-in at Croke Park is at 4.15pm.
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