Dublin 2 - 6  Clare 1 - 8

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A victory fashioned out of great heart and skill in the closing quarter brought Dublin their first points in the league at Parnell Park.

Dublin got off to a flier when within 17 seconds Joelenne Hoary placed Mairi Moynihan for a goal.  But by the third minute Clare were level when a defensive error was punished by Deirdre Murphy - scorer in chief for the Banner Girls.

Clare played their best camogie in the first half and opened a two points lead by the 7th minute thanks to scores from Roisin O'Brien and Danielle Sheedy.

But Dublin's full-forward line had the measure of their opposite numbers.  However the supply was somewhat erratic at this stage.  But when a direct ball was fielded superbly by Joelenne Hoary in the 8th minute, the ensuing pass was finished to the net by Mairi Moynihan and Dublin were back in front with Miriam Twomey lending plenty of support.

Despite the boost of these two goals, Dublin did not manage another score for 23 more minutes.  In between Jean Murphy, Tara Corrigan and Stephanie Carthy were called on defend and Elaine O'Meara did an amount of useful covering.

Clare stretched their lead with excellent points from Deirdre Murphy and two well-struck frees from Chloe Morey as Dublin's only point of the first half was scored by Joelenne Hoary from a free.  Half-time score Clare 1 - 7 Dublin 2 - 1.

A slight breeze now blew in Dublin's favour but while laying siege to the Clare goal the scores refused to come.  The half back line of Rachel Costello, Elaine O'Meara and Catriona Power were on top but up front Dublin spurned a number of chances.   Gráinne Quinn turned in a great second half as all the defenders kept their players scoreless from play in the second period.

Clare too had their misses but in the 46th minute, Deirdre Murphy pointed a free to open a four points gap.  The game was now at its critical phase.  Would Clare push on?  Would Dublin succumb? 

The answer was provided by an inspirational point by Louise O'Hara in the 47th minute.  Dublin were now on a roll and a minute later Joelenne Hoary cut the gap to two points with her first score from play.

The move of Ciara Burgess to midfield helped.  Her pace was crucial as Clare began to tire in the middle third and Ciara picked up an amount of possession.  Aoife Kelly put in an amount of work.  The introduction of Amy Murphy who had picked up an injury in the Wexford game also made a telling impact and she popped over a great point in the 51st minute.

The pressure continued and with Sarah Ryan coming more and more into the game, Dublin again came in search of scores and earned a free in front of the posts for the leveller from Joelenne Hoary.

For once Ciara Lucey's free-taking touch was a bit wayward though all of the frees were in awkward positions or distances.  But when Dublin earned a match-winning free in the 59th minute, Ciara immediately stepped up to assume the responsibility and drove over from 45m.

Two further minutes were played and even in that short spell substitute Sherry Mannion put in a number of blocks and hooks that prevented Clare mounting a challenge as did two tremendous fetches by Sarah Ryan and Tara Corrigan.  Great joy at the finish and an important win for the team.

Galway are next up on Sunday 14 March in Dublin.

Stephanie Carthy, Gráinne Quinn, Tara Corrigan, Jean Murphy, Catriona Power, Elaine O'Meara, Rachel Costello, Louise O'Hara (0-1), Ciara Lucey (0-1f), Ciara Burgess, Sarah Ryan, Aoife Kelly, Miriam Twomey, Mairi Moynihan (2-0), Joelenne Hoary (0-3,2f)

Subs used Amy Murphy and Sherry Mannion; Rachel Noctor, Kirsten Farrell, Niamh McKennedy, Danielle Smith, Nuala O'Donovan, Anne Kirwan