Cork 5-13 Waterford 0-9
Amy O’Connor’s three-minute hat-trick ended this All-Ireland final as a contest, as Cork made up for two lost finals in a row to win their first O’Duffy Cup since 2018.
The Cork captain certainly led by example.
The St Vincent’s club woman set the tone early on with two fine points from play and, as well as slotting her frees, she went onto terrorise the Waterford defence throughout.
That Waterford defence was weakened when Vikki Falconer pulled up and out after just two minutes but in truth, it would hardly have accounted for the 19 point gap on the final score-board.
Competing in their first All-Ireland final since 1945, Sean Power’s Déise outfit will rue a catalogue of early wides but aside from Beth Carton, they just didn’t have enough of a threat in attack.
And Cork had clearly focused on blunting Carton’s considerable threat.
Typically, the De La Salle player ran onto a number of balls but as soon as she won them, she was hounded by a bunch of Rebels. Their hunger was clear for all to see.
Indeed, by the end, the brilliant Carton had accounted for all bar two of Waterford’s nine scores. They needed so much more.
Sorcha McCartan’s early goal had left Waterford with a huge mountain to climb and any hope of a resurrection effectively ended when Carton sliced a penalty just wide on the stroke of half-time.
So Cork went into the break leading by 1-9 to 0-3 and then they were ruthless after the break.
Amy O'Connor has scored a three-minute hat-trick as Cork made a whirlwind start to the second half to race clear of Waterford in the All-Ireland Camogie final
📺 https://t.co/HbvpoI7sDV
📱 https://t.co/wMzrNwXQTP pic.twitter.com/yOEHA78lbr— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) August 6, 2023
O’Connor was their star of the show, filling her boots with three goals within the first five minutes of the second half. From then on, it was a procession.
Related links:
- Cork star McCartan hoping to emulate her dad in camogie final
- “It just melted my heart when I saw them” – Waterford embracing the pre-match hype
- “We put everything into that match” – Gaule devastated as one-point-margin comes back around
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