Huge hurling weekend lies in store.

After a near three month lay off, the County Senior hurling championship resumes this weekend with games fixed for Fraher Field, Cappoquin, Lemybrien, Carriganore and Walsh Park.

Just three teams, Fourmilewater, Lismore and De La Salle at this stage are through to the quarter final stages of the championship and all the other nine teams still have the change of reaching the last eight of this years championship. The end result should be, some exciting and very competitive games fought out.

The permutations going into this weekends round of games are not worth thinking about as doing so could well mean that one or more could easily be forgotten about. What is important however is that teams collect the full quota of points on offer to them. For most teams nothing less than two points will be good enough.

Where two teams finish on the same amount of points, the team that wins the head to head between the two sides is the team that finish’s higher up the table regardless of score difference between the teams involved. In the even that three or more teams was to finish level on points, then the head to heads are forgotten about and its score difference that will decide the final placing’s.

Each game may last all but sixty minutes plus any stoppage time that needs to be played, but there is an awful lot of hurling to play in this time and it’s a distinct possibility that some twists and turns to happen.

Ballyduff Upper and Abbeyside clash at Cappoquin on Saturday evening. When the two sides clashed at Fraher Field last year, the side from the far west of the county caused a major shock by beating Abbeyside convincingly. Both sides have lost players this year due to immigration and it remains to be seen how many if any of these will make it home this weekend. Adrian Power would be a massive lost for Ballyduff if he does not make it home. His absence would possibly all but end any change Ballyduff would have of reaching the last eight. When Ballinacourty played Senior Football recently, they were short a number of players and if they were to miss this game as well it would be a blow to their side. I would expect Abbeyside to have too much for Ballyduff in this game and win a place in the quarter finals.

At Lemybrien, Passage and Dungarvan clash. As things stand, Dungarvan are things stand sit second from the top of group one and Passage are second from the bottom of the group. Dungarvan have one leg in the final and in other years at this stage of the championship that they have crossed the line but not this year. Passage are a side that can blow hot and cold. When they are good they can be very good, but the reverse is also through. With players like Eoin Kelly and Noel Connors to call upon they have great leaders and I would expect both to play a huge roll in this game. For me here, Passage are going to win and in doing so, they will join Dungarvan on five points and in the processes knock the Old Boro out of the championship winning the head to head between the sides.

The final game in group one is the meeting of Ballygunner and Lismore in Fraher Field. It’s well documented that Lismore have never beaten Ballygunner in Championship Hurling. Despite the fact that they are through to the last eight and up to this stage of the competition, Ballygunner despite been County Champions they have struggled somewhat this year. They have had some injuries to cope with and other players have left these shores in search of employment. I expect that some of those that left earlier this year will be back for this must win game for ‘The Gunner’s’ and win they will.

Fourmilewater are the form team in this years championship with four wins from four games. However, it is from here on in that I think things will get interested for the lads operating out of the Mill Field. Tallow were in last years County Final but up to this stage of this years championship, this is something that you would never have imagined as they have looked rather poor this year. However, in saying that, the same could be said of the Bride-siders for much of last year. It was from this stage of the championship that they started to put some good results together and they will be hoping to do so again this year. I expect Fourmilewater in this game will keep their 100% record in this years championship in tact and will enter the quarter finals as the only unbeaten team in this years championship.

De La Salle and Dunhill meet at Carriganore on Sunday. On paper its only possible to see one outcome to this game and if De La Salle were not to win, it would go down not just as the biggest shock in this years championship, but one of the biggest in a long number of years. Yes, Dunhill have done well in this years championship and the fact that they are in with a chance of reaching the last eight of the championship going into the last round of league games in their first season back playing senior in a number of years speaks volumes for them. While they have some good players, you cant but ask do they have enough players that are up to the standard of what De La Salle have in their panel.

Mount Sion and Roanmore clash in Walsh Park and this could well be one of the games of the weekend. Both sides are in the bottom half of group two but a win here for either side would be good enough to secure their place in the last eight. Mount Sion last time out put in their best performance in this years championship to beat Tallow in Fraher Field. This win should give them confidence and if they can put in another performance like that one, they should have it in them to win this game, especially if they are disciplined and therefore restrict the amount of chances Gavin O’Brien will have to shoot at goal from frees over the hour.

To sum things up, for me, its wins for Abbeyside, Passage and Ballygunner in group one on Saturday evening and on Sunday afternoon its wins for Fourmilewater, De La Salle and Mount Sion, which will mean that the quarter finals of the championship will see Fourmilewater, De La Salle, Mount Sion and possibly Tallow (on score difference over Roanmore) that will advance, while in group two, Lismore, Ballygunner and Abbeyside could all finish on six points and thereofr score difference will come into the equation, while Mount Sion should advance as the fourth team in group two. It would also mean that Ballyduff Upper and Dunhill would be left to fight out to see which would drop to the intermediate ranks next year.

Fixtures for Saturday – Group One

Ballygunner V Lismore in Fraher Field at 6-30pm

Abbeyside V Ballyduff Upper in Cappoquin at 6-30pm

Passage V Dungarvan in Lemybrien at 6-30pm

 

Fixtures for Sunday – Group Two

Fourmilewater V Tallow in Fraher Field at 3-30pm

Dunhill V De La Salle in Carriganore at 3-30pm

Mount Sion V Roanmore in Walsh Park at 3-30pm.

 

League table for Senior Hurling Championship Group One

 

Team	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	Points For	Points Against	Points Diff	Points
Lismore	4	2	0	2	78	69	9	6
Dungarvan	4	2	1	1	81	71	10	5
Abbeyside	4	1	1	2	65	66	-1	4
Ballygunner	4	2	2	0	58	61	-3	4
Passage	4	1	2	1	76	81	-5	3
Ballyduff Upper	4	1	3	0	65	75	-10	2

 

League table for Senior Hurling Championship Group Two

 

Team	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	Points For	Points Against	Points Diff	Points
Fourmilewater	4	4	0	0	78	46	32	8
De La Salle	4	3	1	0	105	52	53	6
Tallow	4	1	2	1	62	85	-23	3
Roanmore	4	1	2	1	50	89	-39	3
Mount Sion	4	1	3	0	71	82	-11	2
Dunhill	4	1	3	0	65	77	-12	2

Beidh la eile, le cúnamh Dé

Waterford’s quest to play in Croke Park for the fourth year running ended in disappointed at the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick on Saturday where they suffered a four point defeat to Galway in this years Intermediate All-Ireland Camogie Semi Final.

With Derry through to the final after they beat Tipperary in the first of this years semi final a week previous, these two sides were expected to serve up a close game and they did not disappoint.

Trish Jackman playing at full forward was once again Waterford’s top tallies lady in this game hitting nine of her side’s scores, half a dozen of which came from placed balls.

Galway in this game had the better of the early exchanges as Deirdre Burke, Emma Kilkelly and Rachel Monaghan hit early scores which game them a four point advantage with nineteen minutes played.

The crucial score of the game came just before the break when Emma Kilkelly hit a fortuitous goal when a long range free that dropped in the Déise goalmouth and she reacted quickest, but Waterford were not out of contention at this stage as points from Trish Jackman, Niamh Rockett and Ruth Geoghegan meant that they were only two points down (1-6 to 0-7) at the interval.

The Tribes Ladies stretched their lead to five ten minutes of the restart but Mark Cooney’s charges showed great bottle to bring the game to just one puck of the ball with Trish Jackman sending the umpire in charge of the white flag into overdrive.

Waterford were unlucky not to have gone in front when Nicola Morrissey struck for goal but here effort was brilliantly saved by Róisín Callanan in the Galway goal.

It was the Western Province side that finished the stronger of the two sides after this with Rebecca Hennelly, Emma Kilkelly and Sinead Keane adding the scores which cemented their sides place in this years All-Ireland Final.

Both sides over the game had players that impressed. For the winners, Paula Kenny, Clodagh McGrath, Sinead Keane, Aoife Lynskey, Orla Curtain and Emma Kilkelly stood out, while for Waterford, they were most admirably served by Ruth Geoghegan, Jennie Simpson, Mairead Murphy and Trish Jackman.

Waterford: Tracey Kiely; Pauline Cunningham, Jennie Simpson, Kate-Marie Hearne; Claire Whyte, Shona Curran, Jenny McCarthy; Sarah Fenton, Grainne Kenneally; Mairead Murphy, Nicola Morrissey, Niamh Rockett; Zoe O'Donoghue, Trish Jackman, Ruth Geoghegan. Subs: Caithriona McGlone for Sarah Fenton, Fiona Morrissey for Claire Whyte.  

Scorers: T. Jackman 0-9(6 frees), N. Rockett 0-2, G. Kenneally, R. Geoghegan 0-1 each.

Galway: Róisín Callanan; Tara Kenny, Paula Kenny, Colette Gill; Clodagh McGrath, Sarah Noone, Sinead Keane; Aoife Lynskey, Emma Kilkelly; Deirdre Burke, Orla Curtin,  Ailish O'Reilly; Molly Dunne, Rachel Monaghan, Elaine O'Sullivan. Subs: Maria Brehenny for Molly Dunne, Rebecca Hennelly for Rachel Monaghan, Tina Cormican for Deirdre Burke, Aoibhinn Kenny Elaine O'Sullivan.

Scorers: E. Kilkelly 1-3, R. Monaghan 0-4(3f, 1'45), O. Curtin 0-2, S. Keane, D. Burke, A. O'Reilly, M. Brehenny, R. Hennelly (f) 0-1 each.

Referee: D Ryan (Dublin).

Deise girls one step from return to Croke Park.

Twelve months ago, Waterford’s Junior Camogie team after a number of near misses, won the All-Ireland Junior Final in Croke Park beating Down by a single point.

This weekend, Waterford intermediates team find themselves one step away from another visit to Croke Park, with Galway standing between then and a meeting with Derry in September.

Going into this year, it’s possibly fair to say that many would not have expected Waterford to be as good as they actually proved to be this year. A number of those that formed part of last years panel were not part of this year’s panel and questions are bound to have been asked, could replacements be found for the players not involved this year.

Credit Waterford manager Mark Cooney along with his selectors Rachel Aherne, Sham McCarthy and James Dooley, they set about replacing the players not available to them and replaced them they have.

In the National League Waterford were finished in second place in the group, collecting the full brace of points in four out of five of their games.

Waterford’s first game in the league was against Antrim who had beaten Waterford after a replay in the Junior All-Ireland Camogie Final in 2010. This game resulted in a comprehensive 4-10 to 2-7 win for Waterford and they followed this up with an 0-9 to 0-8 victory away to Wexford.

A visit to Ashbourne in County Meath followed where a strong Derry side provided the opposition. Waterford on the day had to settle for second best, going under 4-20 to 2-6 but got back to winning ways a week later when Waterford proved too strong for Limerick in Cappoquin winning on a 3-11 to 1-10 scoreline.

Waterford’s last game in the league was to have been against Galway in Walsh Park, but with both sides out of contention for a place in the final, the Tribes Ladies opted to concede a Walk Over to Waterford rather than to make the long trip Suir Side.

Waterford carried their good league form into the All-Ireland Championship. Split into two groups, this years intermediate championship in group one, teams consisted of second string selections of counties competing in the senior championship while teams in group two were counties main teams.

First up for Waterford was a meeting with Limerick in Martinstown and resulted in a 4-8 to 1-14 win for Mark Cooney’s charges.

Next up it was a second meeting this year with Antrim and just as was the case in the League game played some weeks previously, the result went in Waterford’s favour, winning 7-11 to 3-10.

Waterford’s final game in the league section of the championship was against Derry. With both sides already through to the semi finals, the game was in sorts a dead rubber game, with the only thing to be decided was which of the two would top the group.

Like the league meeting between the sides in the Spring, it was the Northern Side that came out on top, winning 3-12 to 2-5, but the Déise side if any believe in old sayings, will know that if they advance this weekend, and therefore get to meet Derry in the final after they overcame the challenge of Tipperary in last weekend’s semi final, that it has to be third time lucky for Waterford, and if they were to be told at the start of the year that they would meet Derry three times this year, then of the three games, this would be the one that they would want to win most.

Waterford will travel to the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick this Saturday in a confident mood. Failing to do so would be very defective. While short a number of players that helped them win last years Junior All-Ireland and to also reach the previous two finals where they lost out to Offaly in 2009 and Antrim in 2010, they have some terrific players involved in this team.

Nobody with an interest in Camogie will need to be told anything about Trish Jackman. At 21 she has achieved so much in the last few years and with age on her side, the world could be her oyster when it comes to collecting further honours in the years ahead.

Grainne Kenneally and Shona Curran are two duel stars. Both are involved with the Waterford ladies football team that are vying for a place in an All-Ireland Final in the coming weeks. Ruth Geoghegan and Nicola Morrissey are two members of the Lismore team that won the County League Final recently, beating Saint Anne’s at Fraher Field and Zoe O’Donoghue played an important role that night as well with Saint Anne’s.

Through in the likes of Jennie Simpson, Caitriona McGlone, Niamh Rockett and others, and Waterford have players of the highest order.

Galway will provide stiff opposition for Waterford in this game. Camogie is relatively strong in the Western County, but this is their second team. Waterford have what it takes to beat them, but it could be a tough one.