Hughes again leads the way

Camogie/Munster senior final - Tipperary 4-11 Cork 2-8: Once again, Tipperary's brilliant full forward Deirdre Hughes showed how to do it when she captained her side to their third Munster senior championship title on the trot, scoring a hat-trick of goals in last night's final in Semple Stadium.

An opening point from corner forward Emer McDonnell after 10 minutes gave Tipperary a lead they never lost, and with corner back Suzanne Kelly in top form life was not made easy for the Cork forwards, who had to wait until the 21st minute for their opening score, from half back Amanda O'Regan.

Tipperary added a further six points before the 2004 All-Star Deirdre Hughes stuck the ball into back of the net on half-time. It gave Tipperary a commanding lead of 1-7 to 0-2 at the break.

The second half saw two goals within the space of three minutes as Cork's Úna O'Donoghue cracked home the Rebel's first, only for Emer McDonnell to reply a minute later with Tipperary's second goal.

Stephanie Dunlea scored Cork's second goal midway, only to see Hughes cancel it out immediately with her third.

Jill Horan sent over another Tipperary point before Jennifer O'Leary sent over three Cork frees in the space of six minutes, but Tipperary had done enough to win their 17th Munster senior championship title in style on a perfect summer's evening.

TIPPERARY: J Delaney; S Kelly, N Harkin, M Corcoran; S Nealon, C Gaynor, T Brophy; A McDermott, M Shortt; J Ryan (0-1), S Howard (0-1), C Grogan (0-4); E McDonnell (1-3), D Hughes (3-1), J Horan (0-1). Subs: N Kennedy for M Shortt (38 mins), P Bulfin for (J Ryan), E Hayden for A McDermott (59 mins).

CORK: A Murray; J O'Callaghan, R Holland, J Browne; A O'Regan (0-1), M O'Connor, N Ahearne; V Harris, R Moloney; A Walsh, E Dillon, J O'Leary (0-6, five frees); Ú O'Donoghue (1-0), S Dunlea (1-0), E Burke (0-1). Subs: N Bowles for J Browne (44 mins), G O'Connor for N Ahearne (52 mins), C Desmond for E Dillon (56 mins).

Referee: A Tubridy (Clare).