Footballers make trip to Limerick

The third weekend of May is upon us and it can only mean one thing. The quest for All-Ireland glory is upon us once more.

For Waterford this weekend, two teams begin their championship campaign. Waterford’s senior and junior team make the journey to the Ennis Road in Limerick to play their counterparts from Shannon-side at the Gaelic Grounds.

Defeat for the Juniors would mean an end to their year for 2012, while a defeat for the seniors would mean that they would at least have one more chance to advance to a much bigger day through the qualifiers. But lets not talk about defeats and look forward to possible Munster semi finals against Clare in June.

Last night, both sides were officially named. The junior team was known for some days previous to its official announcement and contains some very experienced players.

The senior team named goes with along expected lines. However, how official it is, is hard to know as there is some talk that there is changes to be made to the one announced before the game and we can as always expect the usual number of positional changes.

Kieran Cotter gets the nod to play in goal ahead of Stephen Enright. This must have been one of the hardest calls the selectors made as both in their own right are fine keepers and when they got their chances to play in the league, both acquitted themselves well.

Thomas and Maurice O’Gorman are named in the full back line along with Kieran Connery. Thomas O’Gorman is named to start between the other two but maybe we should expect some changes. Limerick in their full forward line have to lethal corner forwards in Ian Ryan and Ger Collins and it could be expected that the twins could be told to man mark them and the Clashmore man could start in the middle.

Expect some changes as well in the half back line. Wayne Hennessy could well move from the number 5 position to the number 7 with Tony Grey moving from centre back to the right wing and team captain Shane Briggs taking up the centre back position.

Sean O’Hare is likely to start as selected in the middle of the field but who is partnered by is anyone’s guess. As things start it is Shane Ahearne that’s named there.

The Half forward line of Patrick Hurney, Paul Whyte and Cillian O’Keeffe looks a strong line but will it start that way?

After a long lay off its great to see Tommy Prendergast back in the side. The big Kilrossanty man offers the team a lot. He is named at Corner Forward but with Gary Hurney missing because of injury, expect him to be deployed on the edge of the square where he could prove very dangerous especially with the new rules in regard to the square ball rule now in place.

Mark Ferncombe is named at corner forward but there is reports all week that he might not start because of an injury he picked up recently playing with his club in the senior hurling championship. If he does not start it will be a massive blow to Waterford especially with Gary Hurney also out but Waterford do have options if he does not start or even if he does start and needs replacing.

Shane Ahearne could well be moved to centre forward and Paul Whyte could be switched to the corner forward position. Sean Dempsey or Eamon Walsh could also be brought in to play at Centre Field or another option could be to bring in Liam O Lionáin who could start at Centre Forward or Corner Forward.

The latter move could well prove to be the best option if changes have to be made to the team as in recent weeks he has shown signs of remerging as the player he was before picking up a serious injury while playing with An Rinn against Ballinameela in the latter stages of the club championship back in 2010 which forced him to miss much of last year.

Sean Fleming is the player that makes up the team. He is named at full forward but expect him to move to the corner where he plays best.

Limerick will go into the game as the favourites and rightly so. This is something however that will not phase Waterford too much as they often play best when they are not expected to win.

In recent years, games between the sides have gone both ways. Waterford have won the league game in 2010, 2011 and 2012, but Limerick have won the 2010 league final at Croke Park, the 2010 championship meeting between the sides and the 2011 All-Ireland qualifier between the sides. Therefore Waterford on the law of averages are due a big time win over Limerick.

Waterford has what it takes to win here. I believe they can, but it won’t be easy by any stretch of the imagination.

In the Junior game, John Kiely has a strong starting fifteen named and will be there or there about when it comes to advancing.

Something very pleasing to see is the naming of Ardmore’s Declan Prendergast at full back.

For over a decade he gave terrific service to the county as a member of the senior hurling panel, winning four Munster Finals medals and a league medal along the way.

What some might not be aware of is that he is also a terrific footballer, maybe even a better one than a hurler, and will offer the team so much when he lines out.

Full marks must go to John Kiely for getting him involved. What a pity with the way our games are structured now and the amount of effort put into them that we don’t see players like Declan line out for the county in both hurling and football in the same year as we would have in the past.

Oh yes, for those travelling to the Gaelic Grounds on Sunday, there is another team in action on Sunday. The Waterford Primary Schools teams will play their Limerick Counterparts during the day and they are wished well.