Cork progress to ladies football final
Cork 1-12 Laois 0-8
Reigning champions Cork have eased through to next month’s TG4 Ladies SFC final, beating Laois in Tullamore.
A dynamic first half performance by the Rebelettes, who limited Laois to just one score, saw them lead 1-7 to 0-1 at the interval.
All-Star forward Valerie Mulcahy slid home a brilliant 20th-minute goal despite the attentions of three defenders. Mary Kirwan (free) kicked Laois’ only point.
The Leinster champions had defender Aisling Quigley yellow carded just five minutes into the second half and were never in contention despite a 0-3 haul from captain Gemma O’Connor. Cork skipper Juliet Murphy also scored 0-3 (1f).
Armagh and last year's beaten finalists Galway meet in next Saturday's semi-final, with the winners going on to face Cork at Croke Park on October 1.
CORK: E Harte; R Buckley, A Walsh, B Corkery; G O’Flynn (0-1), B Stack, S O’Reilly; J Murphy (capt) (0-3 (1f)), N Kelly; A Murphy, D O’Reilly (0-1), N Cleary (0-2); V Mulcahy (1-2 (2f)), M O’Connor (0-3), C Creedon.
Subs used: C Walsh for Creedon (half-time), L Power for A Murphy (44), A O’Connor for Mulcahy (53)
LAOIS: B Deegan; G Weston, L Muckian (0-1), N Kirwan (0-1); A Quigley, A Casey, P Fogarty; K O’Reilly, M O’Grady; Martha Kirwan, L Brennan, E Fitzpatrick, T Lawlor (0-1), Mary Kirwan (0-2 (1f)), G O’Connor (capt) (0-3).
Subs used: S Barry for Brennan, A O’Loughlin for O’Grady (both 42 mins), C O’Loughlin for Fitzpatrick (57)
Yellow card: A Quigley (Laois) (35 mins)
