Its a must win weekend for Waterford Ladies

The next forty eight hours are busy ones for the counties Intermediate Ladies Footballers and Camogie players with the final round of games in this year’s National Leagues down for decision.

For both sides they have to make the journey up the motorway in the direction of the countries principal city to play their games.

First up it’s the turn of the Ladies Footballers. After reaching last years All-Ireland Final and winning the Jim Kennedy Cup at the turn of the year, suggested that Waterford could have a successful run in this years league but things have not worked out this way.

The team have played well at times in the league but at crucial points of different games, events happened which turned games against Waterford.

Waterford travel to Hawkfield (North of Newbridge) in Kildare to play the Lillywhite’s on Saturday afternoon.

Waterford lie bottom of the table with just one point from their six games played to date and will have to win this game if they are to stand a chance of avoiding relegation to third tier of the league in 2014.

Even a win this weekend might not save Waterford.

Clare have three points from their six games as a result of their narrow victory over Waterford last weekend at Fraher Field. Should they get any sort of a result against Westmeath in Kinnegad on Sunday afternoon, and Cavan were to get a result of any sorts against Fermanagh on Saturday afternoon, Waterford would be relegated.

However should Waterford beat Kildare and Clare were to loose, Waterford would retain their place in Division two for the 2014 National League and would go into the championship in the coming weeks on somewhat of a high.

Even if Clare pull off a result against Westmeath, Waterford still have a chance of staying up for next years league if they were to win by a big margin and Cavan were to suffer a very heavy defeat to Fermanagh. (Waterford would have to win by 24 points or more with Cavan loosing by a similar margin.   

 

Tesco Homegrown NFL Division 2

	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	Points For	Points Against	Points Diff	Points
Kerry	6	5	0	1	159	71	88	16
Galway	6	5	0	1	134	69	65	16
Westmeath	6	4	1	1	102	72	30	13
Kildare	6	3	2	1	98	93	5	10
Fermanagh	6	2	4	0	86	118	-32	6
Cavan	6	1	4	1	91	102	-11	4
Clare	6	1	5	0	65	151	-86	3
Waterford	6	0	5	1	86	145	-59	1

 

NFL Division 2 Fixtures this weekend.

Kildare V Waterford in Hawkfield  at 2PM (Saturday).

Cavan V Fermanagh in Templeport Bawnboy at 2PM (Saturday)

Westmeath V Clare in Kinnegad at 2PM (Sunday)

Kerry V Galway in Spa (Killarney) at 2PM (Sunday)

 

Meanwhile the Camogie players travel to O’Toole Park in Crumlin on Sunday afternoon for their final game of the league.

As things stand, Waterford stand second in the table and the team will be aware should they beat Antrim they will qualify for the semi finals in the coming weeks.

It’s hard to believe that coming up to 5pm on the Thursday of the game that the team or management did not know where the game was going to be played. However, while it’s not always the right way to do things, the pen is often mightier than the sword and a few messages to be place on twitter, where players, mentors and supporters vented their frustration that no venue was named for the game had one found in a few minutes.

Waterford began the league with a defeat away to Meath but since then, they have regrouped well to beat Galway, Wexford and last weekend against Limerick.

Even a defeat could see Waterford through, should Wexford beat Meath in Enniscorthy, but going on results to date in the league, that is unlikely to happen, meaning Waterford cannot take any chances.

With Limerick and Galway playing each other in Mungret the winner of this game will advance to the semi final along with Waterford, should Mark Cooney’s charges get a result of any sorts against Antrim.

While Waterford sit second in the table going into the last round of games, should they match Limerick’s result this weekend, Waterford would finish above Limerick in the table. Where Waterford finish’s in the table will determine who they play in the semi finals as the top team in Group One play the second team in Groups two and vice versa when the semi finals are played in the coming weeks.    

Group One. Team Played Won Drawn Lost Points For Points Against Points Diff Points Kildare 3 3 0 0 58 30 28 6 Kilkenny 3 2 1 0 58 35 23 5 Cork 3 1 1 1 45 43 2 3 Down 3 1 0 2 14 39 -25 2 Tipperary 4 0 0 4 32 60 -28 0
Fixtures for Sunday. Kildare V Kilkenny in Ballykelly Cork V Down in Bray Emmetts (Bray)

Group Two.

Team	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points For	Points Against	Points Diff	Points
Limerick	4	3	0	1	61	23	38	6
Waterford	4	3	0	1	34	30	4	6
Galway	4	2	1	1	50	29	21	5
Meath	4	2	1	1	39	43	-4	5
Antrim	4	1	0	3	51	54	-3	2
Wexford	4	0	0	4	25	81	-56	0

Fixtures for Sunday.

Limerick V Galway in Mungret

Waterford V Antrim in O’Toole Park – Crumlin (Dublin)

Wexford V Meath in Bellefield, (Enniscorthy)