Wexford 1-12
Galway 1-10

Wexford withstood a late Galway rally to be crowned All-Ireland senior camogie champions at Croke Park today.

It looked set to be a comfortable win for the Model ladies as Katrina Parrock's first half goal helped them to a 1-8 to 0-4 interval lead.

Galway won a penalty shortly after the restart but Mags D'Arcy kept Jessica Gill's effort out and Wexford looked to be comfortable as they led by five points with time nearly up.

Aishlinn Connolly them grabbed a goal for the Westerners in the final minute to set up a frantic finish but Wexford held on for a deserved win.

The Leinster side had opened up a four-point lead by the 26th minute before rattling in their first goal after captain Una Leacy set-up Parrock and she stormed through to bury a brilliant finish to the Galway net.

The Slayneysiders kept up the momentum with five of their forwards getting themselves on the score-sheet to help their team towards a seven-point advantage at half-time, while Galway only managed one score from play out of their 0-4 tally from midfielder Orla Kilkenny.

Five minutes into the resumption the Tribeswomen had a chance to get themselves right back in contention when they were awarded a penalty after Gill had got herself dragged down in the square. The full-forward dusted herself off to take the puck herself and went for power only to be denied by a great block from D'Arcy in the Wexford goal.

To their credit, Galway lifted themselves after the miss and gained a real foot-hold around centre-field to earn frees which Aisling Connolly slotted over to keep them within touching distance.

The Connacht women made a brave effort to steal the crown from their opponents' grasp in the dying stages when a 35-metre free from Connolly deceived everyone, including 'keeper D'Arcy, and flew to the top corner of the net.

Crucially, the Model County never panicked and held out until the long whistle to claim a second O'Duffy Cup in four years.

Wexford - M D'Arcy; C O'Connor, C O'Loughlin, K Atkinson; N Lambert, M Leacy, A O'Connor; C Murphy, D Codd; K Kelly (0-2), U Leacy (0-1), M O'Leary; K Parrock (1-2), U Jacob (0-6, 4f), J Dwyer. Subs: C Storey for Atkinson (13), L Holohan for Codd (53).

Galway - S Earner; S Tannian, S Dervan, R Glynn; N Kilkenny, AM Hayes, T Manton; B Hanney, O Kilkenny (0-1); C Murray, T Maher, A Connolly (1-6, 5f, 2 '45s'); T Rutledge, J Gill (0-1, 1f), V Curtin (0-1). Subs: L Ryan for Murray (28), E Kilkelly (0-1) for Rutledge (h-t), H Cooney for Manton (39), N McGrath for Gill (56), A Lynskey for Orla Kilkenny (60).

Ref: K O'Brien (Dublin). Tweet

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