Cork aim for double delight in Munster championship ties

It’s a busy weekend for the Cork ladies footballers with both the A and B sides in action in the TG4 Munster Ladies Football Championship.

The only pity for supporters is that the games are on at the same time at different venues.

The senior A side are away to Tipperary, with a 2pm throw-in at Fethard Town Park, while the senior B side are at home to Clare at Cloughduv, also at 2pm.

Not ideal, but with Tipperary and the senior B side both having home advantage it is difficult to see how you can change fixtures around.

Both Cork sides will be expected to win, but they will be far from easy games.

Tipperary ran a fancied Waterford side close last week, eventually losing by 2-9 to 1-7, with two goals from Lauren McGregor being the main difference between the teams.

Cork lost to Kerry in their opening tie, a game the Kingdom were fancied to win as they are not only favourites for the Munster title but also the All-Ireland.

Kerry are the form team in the country at the moment and are going to take some stopping as they bid to add their two championship titles to their league one already secured.

At half time it looked like it was going to be a big win for Kerry as they led by 1-11 to 0-3, but credit to Cork, they turned it around in the second half before losing by 1-13 to 0-10.

Cork can take a lot from that second-half display with Shauna Kelly, once again, to the fore in defence. She was ably assisted by the likes of Shauna Cronin, Melissa Duggan, and Erika O’Shea.

Cork brought on Aoife Healy and Libby Coppinger after 24 minutes and these two experienced players also helped to settle their side.

Healy had a magnificent second half at midfield and will be expected to start on Sunday. In attack, Katie Quirke continued her impressive season, with Laura O’Mahony, Emma Cleary, Abbie O’Mahony, and Lydia McDonagh all playing their parts in Cork’s fightback.

They just fell short in the end, but if they play like they did in the second half against Kerry for the entire clash with Tipp then they should travel home with a victory under their belts.

Cork were also without Sarah Leahy and Maire O’Callaghan and both should be fit to start this weekend.

Their influence was missed against Kerry and will be needed in what is a must-win game now for this side.

The senior B team were impressive in their win over Kerry last Saturday evening but will know that Clare are another tough test tomorrow.

Siofra Pattwell led their attack, with Emma Cooney, Aoife Hurley, Holly Fitzgerald, and Kate O’Donovan among others to impress.

A win would secure their spot in the Munster final with a game to spare, as they bid to make up for last year’s loss in the decider to Limerick.

Two tough games but it should be a double Cork success on Sunday.