It’s Cork and Kilkenny for a third year running.
The two counties have been at the top of the camogie tree for some time now and on September 9 they will contest their third consecutive O’Duffy Cup decider in Croke Park.
Kilkenny stuttered over Galway in the opening semi-final on the Thurles card and Cork, despite a gallant Tipperary effort, eventually asserted their class to win fairly comfortably in the end.
There's no stopping the Cats, powering their way to their third O'Duffy decider in a row @OfficialCamogie @KilkennyCamogie https://t.co/VYhvKECfpC
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) August 18, 2018
It’s one apiece between the Cats and the Rebels over those last two All-Ireland meetings, though Paudie Murray’s Cork will go into this one as slight favourites.
One player who can count herself lucky to line out in the red jersey on final day their talismanic midfielder Ashling Thompson. The Milford enjoyed a typically dominant evening in the Cork engine room on the Semple Stadium turf.
She seems to have perfected that deep-lying midfield role as she hared onto a mountain of loose ball and sprayed inviting ball after inviting ball in the direction of her forwards.
The spirited Thompson is a key cog in Murray’s well-oiled machine and though she’s renowned for playing on the edge, it would appear that she strode over the edge this time around.
After being apparently fouled by a Tipperary tackler late on, Thompson swung back in frustration, lashing the Tipperary player with her hurl.
“It was a bit of a wild strike,” said Ursula Jacob on RTÉ after the game.
“She plays on the edge, sometimes she gets away with it or whatever,” she continued.
Presenter Joanna Cantwell wasn’t happy with the answer and she asked of her panel the question on everybody’s lips.
“Is it a red card or not?”
Former Galway star Anne Marie Hayes wasn’t in the mood for sugarcoating it.
“I think it is a red card, and it definitely wasn’t a free for Cork,” she said.
One wonders whether there’ll be retrospective punishment before the decider.
