Cork hammer Clare with Lauren Homan and Cliona Dooley in lethal form

Clare 1-5 Cork 6-13 

THE early exchanges of this intermediate camogie contest were as frenetic as one could imagine. 

Both sides were putting their bodies on the line in pursuit of glory with hooks blocks and tackles the dominant feature of a riveting opening 10 minutes. Ballinora's Cliona Dooley opened the scoring in the third minute with a fine individual point. Scores were then traded with converted frees from Lauren Homan and Aisling Cooney respectively. 

Homan fired a point when Cork wing-back Avril Cashman looked out over the sideline but play continued, which led to heated exchanges between management and officials. 

Clare seemed visibly rattled though star forward Cliona Dooley pounced for the opening major when gathering possession out on the touchline before beating two defenders and rifling to the net. Moments later a long delivery caused consternation in the Banner defence and Dooley was on hand once more to blast home. 

The game seemed to be heading in one direction only but the Banner girls regrouped and finished the half strongly raiding for 1-2 with Aisling Cooney grabbing the goal to make it a five-point game at the break with the Rebel girls leading 2-5 to 1-3.

When play resumed the visiting Cork side had the dream start with corner forward Niamh O'Regan superbly dispatching to the net from close range. The remainder of the contest was entirely played in the Clare half as Cork upped the ante and effortlessly moved through the gears. 

Moving the sliotar at pace through the lines they created a series of goal chances and the imperious centre-forward Homan most certainly capitalised when raising three green flags. 

Some of Homan's finishes were of the highest quality and there is no doubt she has a bright future ahead. For the Banner it was a tough day at the office as they simply had no answer to the pace and precision of the Rebel. 

The final quarter saw Cork ease to the finish keeping the scoreboard ticking over with a succession of superb points. Best for the winners were Lauren Homan, Cliona Dooley and Cliona O'Callaghan while Sinead O'Keeffe and Jennifer Nicholas tried valiantly for the home team.

Scorers for Clare: A Cooney 1-2 (0-2 f), E Cahill 0-2 f, S O'Keeffe 0-1.

Cork: L Homan 3-3 (0-2 f), C Dooley 2-5, N O'Regan 1-1, C O'Callaghan 0-2, E Curtin, E Duignan 0-1 each.
CLARE: S Cullen, R Crowe, R Kelly, M O'Connor, C Ryan, S O'Keeffe, G McMahon, E Begley, J Nicholas, A Cooney, R Conway, M Millea, A McNamara, M Hanrahan, O Phelan.

Subs: B Wiley Murphy for M O'Connor (29), E Cahill for M Hanrahan (HT), A Moroney for E Begley (42), E McInerney for R Kelly (43), E Rynne for A Cooney (46), M Hanrahan for G McMahon (50).

CORK: C Hurley, A Barrett, N O'Leary, E Flanagan, A Cashman, O McAllen, M Ring, H O'Leary, L Buttimer, E O'Donoghue, L Homan, E Sheehan, N O'Regan, C O'Callaghan, C Dooley.

Subs: E Duignan for H O'Leary (40), E Curtin for N O'Regan (45), O Keating for E Sheehan (50), A Egan for A Barrett (52).

Referee: Patrick Murphy