Its Meath V Waterford in Camogie National League opener

After the excitement of last weekend when Waterford Institute of Technology won the Ashbourne Cup for the fifth time in a row after two lots of extra time, the attention this weekend turns to the Inter county scene and the first round of fixtures in this year’s National League.

The fixture computer has not been kind to Waterford this year as the Waterford ladies are set to see a lot of the road, having been drawn away in three of five of their games and the other game due to be played at a venue perceived to be one half way between Waterford and Antrim.

Waterford in the last few years have seen great strides been made in Camogie. Some great people have got involved and their hard work is starting to reap rewards.

After going ever so close on a number of occasions Waterford eventually got out of the Junior grade in the championship in 2011 and last year in their first year at Intermediate they reached the All-Ireland semi final where they were narrowly beaten by a Galway side who lost out in the All-Ireland final against what was a very strong Derry side after a replay.

Last year Waterford were short a number of players that helped them win the 2011 Junior All-Ireland and those that came in for them proved to be equally accomplished players and acquitted themselves well.

It remains to be seen if any of the players that missed out playing last year will be back for 2013, or what if any changes the management team have paid to the panel that they will be choosing from.

If the panel from last year can be retained and added to, then there is no reason not to think why 2013 could not be good for Waterford.

In the likes of Patricia Jackman, Shona Curran, Zoe O’Donoghue, Nicola Morrissey, Pauline Cunningham, Vicky Falconer, Mairead Murphy, Jennie Simpson, Niamh Rockett, Ruth Geoghegan etc Waterford have some terrific players and should have enough to take the points on offer in this game and therefore getting the year off to a good start.

Waterford begins this years campaign on Sunday with an away game played at Dunganny (2-30pm throw-in).

Meath will provide stiff opposition to Waterford here.

Last year they won the All-Ireland Premier Junior Camogie Final where they beat Down 1-11 to 1-9, a side that Waterford beat in the final twelve months previously.

Sinead Hackett could well prove to be one of the ‘Royals’ leading players. She operates a lot playing at the edge of the square and is known to have hit an odd poachers goal or two. Jane Dolan is likely to be started in the half forward line and could well prove a danger if presented with a share of frees.  Aileen Donnelly and Aoife Maguire could also feature in attack while Emily Mangan would be expected to start between the posts.

Waterford should prove to be the side with the greater experience and will be looking to get 2013 off to a good start with a win in this game.