By Kevin Carney

​​Tipperary 2-6 Cavan 1-8

Emma Morrissey scored 2-4 including the winning penalty, deep into added-time, to seal Tipperary’s place in the TG4 All-Ireland Senior Championship for 2023, with Cavan heading for the relegation play-off instead.

Morrissey found the top-corner with aplomb after her teammate Angela McGuigan was fouled in the penalty area in the 62nd minute at Kingspan Breffni.

Cavan were left shell-shocked at the death and now face a relegation decider to see if they too can avoid the drop to the intermediate ranks.

In what was a free-flowing Round 3 tie, Tipperary won most of the battles and most crucially, the war itself, to take the spoils.

Tipperary scored their first goal in the 14th minute when midfielder Marie Creedon combined with late call-up Róisín Howard to put the influential Morrissey through for a well-taken goal.

Morrissey’s first strike propelled the visitors into a 1-2 to 0-2 advantage and wind-backed Cavan struggled to eat into that cushion.

But, thanks, in the main, to Lauren McVeety’s free-taking, the hosts hung in there. A long-range McVeety effort helped cut Tipperary’s interval lead to a very manageable two points, when Cavan trailed by 1-4 to 0-5.

2 points down in injury time needing a win to stay up… Take a bow Emma Morrissey… @TippLadiesFB

Brilliant streaming service as always from @LadiesFootball https://t.co/qjdwS1RKib pic.twitter.com/Vu5siIPsAK

— Paul Carroll (@PCarrollSport) June 25, 2022

The majority of the play remained around the middle third of the field. Poor shooting, a difficult to judge wind and a greasy sod conspired to produce a dogged duel seemingly beset with nerves and tension.

The game seemed to be Tipperary’s to lose but six wides by the visitors in the third quarter had Cavan breathing a huge sigh of relief.

The Ulster outfit nabbed a lifeline in the 48th minute when Geraldine Sheridan was fouled but Lauren McVeety’s penalty was saved by Tipperary goalkeeper Lauren Fitzpatrick, before being hacked clear.

But McVeety made up for her miss in the 51st minute when she fired home low past the advancing goalkeeper, following a storming run by Geraldine Sheridan through the heart of the visitors’ defence.

However, Tipperary had a sting in their tail, saving their best until last with Morrissey scoring the resulting penalty and Cavan left to dwell over a relegation play-off.

 Scorers – Tipperary: E Morrissey 2-4 (3f); L O’Shea 0-1, M Creedon 0-1.

Cavan: L McVeety 1-4 (3f); C McCaffrey 0-2; N Keenaghan 0-1, A Greenan 0-1.

TIPPERARY: L Fitzpatrick; E Kelly, L Spillane, E Cronin; Nora Martin, Niamh Martin, C O’Dwyer; M Creedon, A O’Shea; C English, A McGuigan, R Howard; E Morrissey, L O’Shea, M Murphy.

Sub: S Ryan for L O’Shea (47), N Towey for Murphy (51).

CAVAN: E Brady; K McIntyre, S Lynch, E Longair; S Greene, L Fitzpatrick, M Sheridan; N Byrd, A Deneher; N Keenaghan, L McVeety, A Walls; A Cahill, G Sheridan, A Gilsenan.

Subs:  C McCaffrey for Walls (41); A Reilly for Cahill (55).

Dublin 2-14 Mayo 1-7

Jennifer Dunne inspired Dublin to victory and top of Group A in the TG4 All-Ireland Senior Championship at Mayo’s expense in O’Moore Park, Portlaoise.

This was Dublin’s third win from three in the group, as last year’s beaten finalists set up a clash with Donegal in the quarter-finals. Mayo are also into the last eight where they will face Cork.

Michael Moyles’ side had the breeze at their backs in the first half but Dublin still burst out of the blocks with two early points from Carla Rowe and Nicole Owens. With kicking from distance an option at the other end, Mayo were able to get on the scoreboard throughout the first half through Tara Needham, Sinéad Walsh and Sinéad Cafferky, but they weren’t able to pile on the pressure, and Dublin secured an 0-8 to 0-5 interval lead, despite not kicking any score from more than 20 metres out.

Dunne took advantage of the increased scoring range when she hoisted over a magnificent point to open the scoring in the second half, and while Shauna Howley replied immediately for Mayo, that was to be their third last point.

Defensively, Mayo held out for as long as they could but their faint hopes of pulling off an upset were all but extinguished when Rowe and Dunne set up Kate Sullivan for the game’s first goal in eighth minute of the second half, pushing the lead out to seven points.

A measure of the quality available to Dublin manager Mick Bohan was when he was able to spring four-time All-Ireland winner Lyndsey Davey off the bench and the Skerries Harps player made an immediate impact after coming in, adding the finishing touch to Owens’ pass for Dublin’s second goal.

Hannah Tyrrell also featured strongly in the second half, scoring three times, but she also picked up a yellow card with ten minutes to play, and this opened the door for Mayo to enjoy an increased share of the play in the closing stages.

Their unflinching efforts were rewarded when Lisa Cafferky pounced on a breaking ball and sidestepped Ciara Trant for a late goal, but they still have questions to answer in advance of what’s sure to be a tough test against the Rebel County next time.

Scorers – Dublin: C Rowe 0-5 (2f), K Sullivan 1-1, H Tyrrell 0-3 (1f), L Davey 1-0, N Owens 0-2, J Dunne 0-2, O Nolan 0-1.  

Mayo: L Cafferky 1-0, S Howley 0-3 (2f), S Walsh 0-1, S Cafferky 0-1, T Needham 0-1, C Whyte 0-1.  

Dublin: C Trant; N Collins, L Caffrey, J Tobin; A Kane, M Byrne, O Nolan; J Dunne, L Magee; C O’Connor, C Rowe, K Sullivan; S Aherne, H Tyrrell, N Owens.

Subs: N Hetherton for Sullivan (40), L Davey for Aherne (40), H Leahy for Collins (45), K McDaid for Nolan (45), S Woods for Kane (46).

Mayo: A Tarpey; D Caldwell, R Flynn, S El Massry; C Needham, F McHale, K Sullivan; S Cafferky, A Geraghty; T O’Connor, S Walsh, S Mulvihill; L Cafferky, S Howley, T Needham.

Subs: C Whyte for T Needham (28), L Brennan for Tarpey (ht), L Wallace for El Massry (46), E Murray for Howley (51), J Mortimer for Sullivan (51), H Reape for O’Connor (53).

Ref – Brendan Rice (Down).