Waterford and Limerick footballers put unbeaten starts on the line

Waterford and Limerick put their unbeaten start to this year’s Allianz National Football League on the table this Saturday evening when the two clash under the lights at Fraher Field.

Over the past few years, the sides have met on a number of occasions and a bit of a pattern has began to be seen in the final outcomes of the games.

Since 2010 in the league section of the competition, victory has gone to Waterford on three occasions, but when the sides have met in the bigger games (the championship and in the 2010 league final at Croke Park) victory has gone to the Shannon-siders.

Confidence within both camps will be high going into the game. Limerick have come through games with Leitrim and Offaly while Waterford have beaten fancied sides in Clare and Tipperary and last weekend they beat Wexford in a challenge game.

With Carlow breeding down the necks of both also having won their two opening games, neither of the two sides will want to loose this game, meaning the end result could well be a very entertaining battle.

In their opening round victory over Leitrim, Limerick fielded without Ger Collins and Ian Ryan, but were able to welcome them back against Offaly in round two.

They have also fielded without Seanie Buckley, Damien Quaid and Andrew Lane in the opening two rounds of games but are set to welcome them back for the visit to Dungarvan. John Galvin having suffered his share of injuries over the past twelve months plus has also played no part in the league yet this year but is reported to be back in training and when he comes back into the team it will be a massive boost to the side. Stephen Lucey, Stephen Kelly, John Cooke and Jim O’Donovan are also absentees for the Shannon-siders and no doubt that Waterford will be hoping that they will all not be considered to play any part in this weekend’s game.  

Waterford under the guidance of new manager Niall Carew has impressed. They were unlucky to have gone out of the McGrath Cup after extra time at the semi final stages against Tipperary after the Premier Men scored somewhat of a lucky goal to win the game, and in the games against Clare and Tipperary in the league they have also impressed in winning games that few would have given them any chance of winning.

In their league games they have played without team captain Gary Hurney who is without doubt one of the countries finest footballers, as a result of a suspension he picked up towards the end of the 2012 National Football League.

His suspension is now up and most would have predicted that he would have started this weekend but an injury picked up while playing for Munster against Ulster in the Interprovincial series has meant that he has not been named in the starting line up.

The severity of the Injury is not known to most, but if he is able to come in and play some part for Waterford, especially in the second half if the game is close the value of his presence would be immeasurable.

With some big games to come for both sides and in particular for Waterford who have games against Offaly, Carlow, Leitrim and a tricky tie against London to follow, the importance of a win against Limerick cannot be highlighted enough.

It could be expected that if a team was to loose three or more points over the course of seven games it could well mean that they miss out on promotion and the chance of a rear appearance to play at Croke Park.

With little or nothing separating the sides, in the event that teams do drop points, it is vital that teams win games by a big as margin as is possible. With Kilkenny not involved in the league this year there is no perceived easy two points to be won this year and the chance to rack up an impressive score for tally on the league table.

After the win over Tipperary there was a lot of goodwill towards Waterford’s footballers on the different social network sites. It would be nice to see as many as possible attend this weekends game and prove to be a sixteenth man at a venue that Waterford usually does well at.

When Waterford played Clare at Fraher Field in the 2010 National Football League, it was estimated that between two to three thousand people attended the game. While it would be asking a lot for a similar amount to attend a game on a Saturday evening under lights, if large local support did turn up then it could make a difference.

Limerick may go into this game as the favourites to retain their unbeaten record in tact, and will provide a serious test to Waterford; the home side are more than capable of getting the result that will keep them on top of the league table.