The 2006

All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship The All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship is a competition for inter-county teams in the women's field sport of game of camogie played in Ireland. The series of games are organised by the Camogie Association and are played during the summer mo ...

—known as the

Gala Gala may refer to: Music * ''Gala'' (album), a 1990 album by the English alternative rock band Lush *''Gala – The Collection'', a 2016 album by Sarah Brightman *GALA Choruses, an association of LGBT choral groups *''Gala'', a 1986 album by Th ...

All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship for sponsorship reasons—was the high point of the 2006 season in the sport of

Camogie Camogie ( ; ga, camógaíocht ) is an Irish stick-and-ball team sport played by women. Camogie is played by 100,000 women in Ireland and worldwide, largely among Irish communities. A variant of the game of hurling (which is played by men onl ...

. The championship was won for the 22nd time by

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

who defeated

Tipperary Tipperary is the name of: Places *County Tipperary, a county in Ireland **North Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Nenagh **South Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Clonmel *Tipperary (town), County Tipperary's na ...

by an eight-point margin in the final despite having lost to them in the group stages.

Rena Buckley Rena Buckley is an Irish sportswoman who played at senior level for both the Cork county ladies' football team and the Cork county camogie team. She has also represented Munster in the Gael Linn Cup and Ireland at international rules. Between ...

was player of the match. The attendance was 20,685, at the time the second highest in camogie history.

Format change

The championship was changed from knockout to a round-robin system for the first time in 2006. The system was retained despite some high-profile criticism. The six senior counties were all guaranteed a minimum of five competitive games, with the hope that standards all round would improve as a result of all the extra matches. Tipperary won their championship group game against Cork by 3-8 to 1-10 in

Templemore Templemore () is a town in County Tipperary, Ireland. It is a civil parish in the historical barony of Eliogarty. It is part of the parish of Templemore, Clonmore and Killea in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly. The 2011 Censu ...

with two goals from

Emily Hayden Emily Hayden is a former camogie Camogie ( ; ga, camógaíocht ) is an Irish stick-and-ball team sport played by women. Camogie is played by 100,000 women in Ireland and worldwide, largely among Irish communities. A variant of the game o ...

and a third from Louise Young. They eventually lost the All-Ireland final to the same opposition, something that was happen four times in the first six competitions under the new structure.

Group stages

For the final round of the championship Marie O'Connor arrived in Athenry by helicopter after attending her brother's wedding and scored 2-2 as her side Kilkenny defeated Galway 3-5 to 0-10. Wexford defeated Limerick 4-18 to 0-4 in their final group game in Bruff but still did not qualify for the semis.

Semi-finals

The closing stages were disappointing, Cork beating Galway by four points in a stop-start first semi-final and Claire Grogan’s sending Tipperary through to the final beating Kilkenny by five points in the second semi-final.

Final

For the first time in camogie history, the All Ireland finals did not produce a single goal. Play flowed better than in the semi-finals and just one of the game's 16 scores,

Jennifer O'Leary Jennifer O’Leary is a camogie player, winner of eight All-Star awards in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 . She won All Ireland medals with Cork in 2002, 2005, 2006 and 2014 and National League medals in 2003, 2006, 200 ...

's fourth and final point for Cork, came from a free. Joanne Ryan fought what one reporter described as “mammoth and fascinating tussle” at midfield with

Briege Corkery Briege Corkery (born 16 December 1986) in Cork is a camogie player, ladies' Gaelic footballer, and winner of seven All Ireland Senior Camogie medals in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2014, 2015 and 2018 as well as the winner of eleven All Ireland Se ...

. Jim O’Sullivan, Gaelic games correspondent of the

Irish Examiner The ''Irish Examiner'', formerly ''The Cork Examiner'' and then ''The Examiner'', is an Irish national daily newspaper which primarily circulates in the Munster region surrounding its base in Cork, though it is available throughout the country. ...

wrote:

Consistent with what the scoreline suggests, powerful defensive play was key to Cork retaining their title in style in yesterday’s Gala All-Ireland senior camogie championship final in Croke Park. Starting without five of the team which looked destined to win last year’s final until Cork produced five late points, Tipperary’s inexperience in attack was to undermine their challenge. The one-sided nature of the contest was primarily down to Cork’s superiority as a team, reflecting the confidence gained in victory 12 months ago and the determination to prove that it was no fluke.

Fintan McNamara of Clare refereed.

Final stages

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References

External links

{{All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...