Waterford Ladies Football - All ready for 2013

Three months have passed since Waterford’s Intermediate Ladies Football team was beaten in the All-Ireland Final at G.A.A. Head Quarters at Croke Park where Armagh came out on top.

However the break for the players involved in this game has been a relatively short one, as they were back in training once more over Christmas and in just over twenty four hours they take on Limerick in the first round of the Jim Kennedy Cup in Rathkeale at 8pm on Wednesday evening.

When the County Board sat down at its convention at the end of November, it’s fair to say that they did so with a degree of satisfaction. 2012 was a year when success was recorded silverware wise and also the seeds were sown for possible successes to come in the future.

Convention is not just about looking back; it’s also about looking to the future.

During the meeting a vote of confidence was given to Abbeyside’s Peter Jordan to lead the county into 2013 been re-elected as Chairman for another term.

Ciara Dunphy was elected secretary at the meeting and the Comeragh Rangers club member will be assisted by Terry Power of the Tramore Club.

Kilmacthomas’ Lisa Cronin remains on as Treasurer and will be assisted by Johnny Landers of the Saint Patrick’s Club.

Dungarvan’s Michael Gildea has taken over as PRO and will be assisted by Ballysaggart’s Aoife Bennett.

Marianne Cliffe of the Clashmore Club was elected as the Boards Register, Johnny Landers will double his Assistant Treasurers position with that of Development Officer, Aoife McGovern is the Boards Cultural and Language Officer, Marian O’Hanlon of Comeragh Rangers was elected Referee’s Coordinator, Ballyduff’s John Frewan fills the important Child Welfare Officer position, Elma Foley from Old Parish is the Fixtures Secretary while Catherine Ahearne of the Na nDéise Club is the Secondary School’s Liaison Officer.

Management teams for 2013 were also put in place for all teams in late November.

Pat O’Brien remains on as manager of the Intermediate team and will work along side Crohan McGregor, John O’Dwyer, Barry Upton, Colin Walsh, Sinead ní Faoilain and Lisa Cronin.

Peter Jordan is manager of the Minor team in 2013 and will be assisted by Johnny Landers, Eibhlis Hahessey and Lyndsey Keane.

Crohan McGregor is in charge of the under 16s and will have Sean Curry and Joe Murray from Comeragh Rangers as well as Dungarvan’s Trish Ferncombe working alongside him.

In under 14, Pat O’Sullivan, Johnny Troy, Michael O’Brien and Ciara Dunphy will be over the team and in under 12 Naomh Pól’s Eric McGrath will work alongside selectors yet to be confirmed.

In 2012, the Waterford County Board ran no fewer than thirty four competitions which they have to be complemented upon. All but one of these was complete in the calendar year.

Dungarvan were the big winners collecting five titles, one more that Ballymacarbry. Comeragh Rangers and Abbeyside won three finals each, Brickeys, Stradbally, Ballysaggart, Saint Anne’s and Kilrossanty collected two titles each while there was one title each for Stradbally, Mount Sion, Shamrocks, Naomh Pól, Ballyduff, Roanmore, Saint Patrick’s and Na nDéise.

Ballymacarbry’s long dominance in the senior grade continued into 2013, as they beat Abbeyside for the title.

In the Intermediate grade Comeragh Rangers emerged as winners, while Stradbally and Mount Sion were the Junior ‘A’ and Junior ‘B’ Champions respectfully.

In the 11 a side Division one adult grade championship, the competition was not played to a finish while Brickeys emerged as the division two champions beating Comeragh Rangers in the final.

In the seven a side Division One Cup, Ballymacarbry collected the title beating Comeragh Rangers, while Abbeyside won the Division one plate final beating Ballyduff in the final. In the seven a side division two cup, Shamrocks were the winners, in the Division three cup it was Naomh Pól that collected the laurels and in the division three plate final Stradbally were the victors.

In Minor, Comeragh Rangers are champions for 2012, beating Ballymacarbry in the final. Brickeys are the ‘B’ champions, beating Stradbally in the final while Ballysaggart beat Old Parish to win the ‘C’ Final.

In under 16, the County Board ran four competitions. Comeragh Rangers won the ‘A’ final beating Na nDéise in the final. Dungarvan beat rivals Abbeyside to win the ‘B’ title, Saint Anne’s won the ‘C’ final beating Ballysaggart in the final while Ballymacarbry beat Tramore to win the ‘D’ final.

Dungarvan are under 15 champions having beaten Comeragh Rangers in the final, a Kilrossanty/Brickeys combination beat Old Parish to win the ‘B’ final while Ballyduff beat Ardmore to win the ‘C’ final.

The Old Boro also won the Under 14 championship, again beating Comeragh Rangers in the final. Abbeyside won the ‘B’ Championship where they beat Old Parish and Ballysaggart won the ‘C’ Final having beaten Tramore in the final.

In under 13 there was four different competitions run off. Dungarvan are the ‘A’ champions where they beat Stradbally. The ‘B’ final has found a home in the city as Roanmore beat Old Parish, in a local derby ‘C’ final it was Saint Patrick’s that came out on top against Kilrossanty while Na nDéise are ‘D’ champions after they beat Abbeyside.

Six competitions were played out in the under 12 grade. Dungarvan won the ‘A’ final where they beat Tramore, and Ballymacarbry won the plate final where they beat Ballyduff. The ‘B’ final was won by Saint Anne’s who beat Ballysaggart while Abbeyside won the plate final. In the ‘C’ competition, Stradbally came out on top against Clashmore while in the plate final Kilrossanty beat Kilmacthomas in another local derby final.

On the inter county scene, Waterford fielded teams in competitions from under 14 up.

In the Munster under 14 ‘B’ Championship Waterford opened their campaign with a 6-6 to 2-8 win over Limerick in Bruff. The team accounted for Tipperary on a 3-10 to 1-7 score line at Stradbally in round two before beating Clare 4-13 to 2-6 at Coolmeen.

Waterford then played Cork in the Munster ‘A’ semi final where they lost 4-14 to 2-11 at Stradbally but did not have to wait too long for their next game against Tipperary in the Munster ‘B’ Final at Dungarvan where the home side ran out comfortable 4-6 to 1-3 winners.

In the All-Ireland semi final Waterford travelled to Bagenalstown to play Laois, a game Waterford won 1-7 to 1-4 and in the All-Ireland Waterford came out on top in another very close game beating Cavan 1-7 to 1-5 at Birr.

In the All-Ireland under 14 Blitz, competing in division two, Waterford recorded some mixed results. Haven opened with a 1-3 to 1-0 defeat to Cavan, Wins over Galway (2-8 to 1-1), Laois (1-8 to 0-0) and Clare (4-4 to 0-3 were recorded.

In under 16, Waterford competed in the Munster ‘B’ Championship and just like the under 14’s reached the final.

Waterford began with a draw against Limerick (1-11 to 3-5) at Fraher Field before heading off to Coolmeen to play Clare in the second round where the visitors recorded a 2-10 to 1-6 win and in the final round of the group stages of the competition, Waterford proved marginally too strong for Tipperary at Fraher Field winning on a 4-8 to 2-10 scoreline, but when the sides clashed for the second time, it was the Premier County that took home the winners trophy winning 4-10 to 1-8 at Cahir.

In the Munster Minor ‘B’ Championship there was no luck for Waterford as they suffered a 6-5 to 2-10 defeat to Limerick at Fraher Field in the opening round of the competition and at Sean Treacy Park in Tipperary they narrowly lost out to Clare on a 5-6 to 5-5 scoreline.

In Intermediate, there was some considerable success for Waterford in 2012.

In the Jim Kennedy Cup, Waterford opened with a 3-17 to 3-7 defeat to Cork at Araglin in the first round of the competition but followed it up with a 4-18 to 1-3 victory over Institute of technology Tralee at Ballyduff on a 4-18 to 1-3 scoreline.

Waterford reached the semi final of the competition where they played University of Limerick in Limerick but had to settle for second best, loosing out on a 4-17 to 2-5 score line.

In the National League, Waterford had some mixed results. The long journey to Doonbeg was made for the opening round of games where the home side ran out winners 0-18 to 1-8.

In rounds two and three defeat was again Waterford’s lot. At the Saint Mollerans grounds in Carraigbeg Galway ran out winners 1-13 to 1-8 in round two and in round three at Kilmacthomas, Mayo ran out winners 3-13 to 3-10.

Waterford’s first win in the league was against Fermanagh at Fraher Field where they won 2-9 to 2-7 and in round five there was another high scoring game at the Castleisland Desmonds club grounds where Kerry ran out winners 3-16 to 5-9.

Waterford rounded off the league with wins over Cavan and Tipperary. At Fraher Field Waterford beat Cavan 2-7 to 0-10 while at Templemore Pat O’Brien’s charges proved too strong winning 2-15 to 1-10.

Unfortunately, despite Waterford’s late run of good results, they did not finish in a position to allow them compete in the knockout stages of the competition.

In the Munster Intermediate Championship, Waterford proved too strong for Cork at Carraigtwohil in the opening round of the competition winning 2-11 to 1-9 and followed it up with a massive 6-10 to 2-11 victory over Limerick at Mungret.

This set Waterford up for a Munster Final appearance against Tipperary at Páirc Uí Rinn.

From the off the Premier Ladies took the game to Waterford. They were first to score through Gillian O’Brien and when they added a second point soon afterwards again from the same player it was it was starting to look good for them. In fact by this stage they could have been even further in front as they squandered a good chance to plant the ball in the Déise net. Waterford by this stage had hit just one point, player of the match Elaine Power finding the target.

Michelle Ryan leveled matters on seven minutes and when Elaine Power added her second of the game after ten minutes, Waterford were in front for the first time in the game. Waterford soon extended their lead to two when Michelle Ryan put over a free.

Tipperary pulled a point back eleven minutes from the break, but Waterford wasted little time in putting some day light between the sides as just three minutes later Róisín Tobin hit the only goal of the game.

Waterford continued to dominate the games happenings and a brace of scores from Shona Curran helped Waterford to a 1-7 to 0-4 lead at the break.

Waterford would have been even further in front at this stage, but some fine goalkeeping by Helen Kennedy in the Tipperary goal who kept The Premier Ladies in contention.

Waterford continued to dominate much of the second half. A Michelle Ryan free four minutes into the half extended the Déise Ladies lead and when Elaine Power added her third score of the game, the signs were looking good from a Waterford perspective.

Tipperary however refused to throw in the towel without a fight. Three points from Gillian O’Brien brought them back into contention, but Waterford held out strong and ran out deserved winners on a 1-12 to 0-9 scoreline.

In the All-Ireland Championship, Waterford had to reach Croke Park going the scenic route.

In the opening round of the league section of the Championship, Waterford and Armagh shared the spoils at Killeavey before both counties recorded wins over London and Down.

This meant that Waterford and Armagh finished level on points and therefore a play off was needed to determine which of the two would go straight to the semi finals and which would have to play a series of play offs to see if they too could reach the last four of the competition.

It was the Ulster side that emerged victors in a mid week game played at O’Toole Park in Dublin, winning on a 4-12 to 2-12 scoreline.

Five days later Waterford had to make the first of three visits in three weeks to Birr. In the first of a series of play offs Waterford beat Leitrim 2-18 to 1-8 to set up a second play off game against Sligo. Waterford in this game again came out on top winning 3-11 to 1-14.

This meant that Waterford were through to the All-Ireland semi finals.

Fermanagh provided the opposition for Waterford at Birr. A close game was expected and the sides did not fail to disappoint.

For much of the game very little separated the sides, and the prospect of the sides requiring more than the allotted sixty minutes to find a winner always was a distinct possibility. However either side of the break when the Ulster side had their numbers cut for a sin binning offence, Waterford were able to kick some crucial scores from Michelle Ryan and Michelle McGrath which in the end proved to be the difference between the sides.

Waterford won the game 2-10 to 0-14 to set up a third meeting with Armagh in this years championship.

This years All-Ireland finals were put back one week owing to Kilkenny and Galway needing a second attempt to see which of the two were to take procession of the Liam McCarthy this year.

Armagh were expected to provide stiff opposition and so they did.  

The Ulster County had played in the senior grade between 2007 and 2011 reaching the senior final in their first year playing at this grade and the experience gained playing in this grade showed in this game.

Waterford began brightly as Michelle McGrath pointed for Waterford on seventeen seconds.

Early in the game it looked as if it was going to be Waterford’s day as Armagh proved wasteful with a number of early chances they had. 

Armagh’s goalkeeper Catherine McAlinden managed to pull down a shot from Michelle Ryan that appeared to be dipping into the roof of the net and the defence was able to clear the danger.

Shortly afterwards Waterford had another good chance for a goal. The Wall sisters Linda and Aileen set up Shona Curran but again the chance failed to result in a score for Waterford. However, you could not but feel if Waterford did manage to score while Armagh were missing their chances at the other end of the field, then the trophy would be heading to the South East.

Armagh continued to run at the Déise goal and on six minutes they had shot their fourth wide of the game.

However, a minute later Armagh’s luck turned as they won a free which looked simple enough to convert but Caroline O’Hanlon saw her effort rebound high off the upright, but the rebound fell to the Shauna O’Hagan who smashed the ball to the Waterford net.

Marian McGuinness and Fionnuala McKenna quickly followed up with points for Armagh which gave them a 1-3 to 0-1 lead with ten minutes played.

Ciara Lennon had a chance to further extend Armagh’s lead but it failed to take it.

Waterford attached up field, Linda Wall laid the ball off to Hannah Landers who hit the net to bring Waterford right back into contention with twelve minutes played.

Kelly Mallon pointed eleven minutes from the break, Shauna O’Hagan fisted over the bar two minutes later and Mags McAlinden point from a free three minutes for the break to give Armagh a 1-5 to 1-1 lead as the sides headed to the dressing rooms under the Cusack Stand.

Waterford began the second half again looking the better side. Linda Wall pointed a minute after the restart.

Ciara Lennon pointed for Armagh in the seconds later and this was followed up with a similar score from the boot of Fionnuala McKenna.

Two points from Caroline O’Hanlon from a free and then Niamh Henderson had Armagh 1-9 to 1-2 in front with eight minutes of second half played.

Michelle Ryan hit a brace of points for Waterford inside a five minute spell at the end of the third quarter, but in between was an effort from Mags McAlinden for Armagh.

Caroline O’Hanlon extended Armagh’s lead to 1-11 to 1-4 lead on forty-six minutes. Linda Wall kept Waterford in touch however with a point a minute later.

On forty-eight minutes, playing into the canal end and attaching from the Hogan Stand side of the field, Aileen Wall set up Shona Curran who opted (correctly) to punch the ball while in the air rather than catch and shoot, but her goal bound shot was somehow cleared off the line by Laura Brown.

Three minutes later, Linda Wall was fouled inside the box and referee Pat Kehoe awarded a penalty but Michelle Ryan put the ball straight down the middle and was saved by the legs of the Armagh keeper who was going to her left.

A minute later, Waterford again were denied again from a Michelle Ryan effort. Armagh followed up with a point through Caroline O’Hanlon and if Waterford needed telling that it was not to be their day five minutes from time Caroline O’Hagan took another Waterford goal scoring opportunity off the line.

While Waterford were beaten 1-12 to 1-5 on the day against a good Armagh side they can take plenty of home heading into 2013 knowing have gone close in 2012 and again in 2010, they are not far from returning back to the senior ranks.

Waterford ended the year with Michelle Ryan and Grainne Kenneally getting nominated for All-Stars and Elaine Power was nominated for a player of the year award in the Intermediate grade.

While none of the three were to win one of the awards, getting nominated for such awards speaks volumes for their contribution to the game in 2012.

The 2012 playing year closed recently with the presentation of Medals to the successful inter county teams. The under 14’s were presented with their Munster and All-Ireland medals, while the Intermediates were presented with their Provincial medals.

The players of the year were also announced. Comeragh Rangers, Katie Murray one of three sisters to help Waterford win the Under 14 All-Ireland was named the under 14 players of the year. Megan O’Connor of Brickeys was named the under 16 Player of the year and at Minor level the Player of the Year Award was presented to Saint Patrick’s Aoife Landers. At Intermediate level, it hardly came as a surprise that Elaine Power was the player of the year.

 

2012 was a long and successful year in Ladies Football. The work has already begun for 2013, especially with the Intermediates. It appears that Pat O’Brien and his selectors have added to their panel for the year ahead which will strengthen the team and create extra competition for places.

Lets hope that the hard work will be rewarded with the side climbing the steps of the Hogan Stand at around 3-20pm on the last Sunday of September.