3 big camogie games this Saturday for Waterford.

What a past few weeks its been for Waterford Camogie and they keep on coming.

In the last few weeks, Waterford’s Intermediate team have qualified for the All-Ireland semi final for the second year in a row where the opposition will be provided by Galway for the second year in a row, and the county’s under 16 team have also qualified for an All-Ireland ‘B’ semi final. Who Waterford will play in that semi final will be determined this coming weekend.

This Saturday promises to be a big day for Camogie in Waterford with the county fielding teams in three competitions at two different venues.

Putting out three teams in two venues is far from ideal for Waterford. Ideally, all games should be played at the one venue, but it’s not to be as two of the games are Provincial competitions while the third is in a National Competition.

Of course there is going to be a cross over of players between the teams which begs the question, will Waterford be able to field a full strength team in all three games. It would be a big as of players to line out in more than one game, but have no doubt, whatever Waterford side will take to the fields in Cork and Cahir, they will be giving it their all.

The first Waterford team that will be in action this weekend will the counties under 16 team. They have already qualified for an All-Ireland semi final, but because they finished on seven points from a maximum of eight after the league section of the competition along with Cork, the two counties will have to play off to see which of the two sides top the group and get what is perceived as the easier of the two semi finals because in underage games, score difference cannot be used to determine positions when two or more teams finish level on points. If score difference could be used, it is Waterford that would have topped the group.

The two sides met a few weeks back again at the Cork Camogie Grounds at Mahon in Cork, the same venue that will be used this weekend.

Waterford that day got off to a blistering start with a point from Molly Curran from a forty-five inside two minutes of the game starting but it was soon cancelled out when Rachel Harty pointed from play for the Rebels.

Waterford after this exerted a lot of pressure on the Cork defence and it paid off as Kate McMahon pointed from play and Molly Curran put over a hat-trick of placed balls to give Waterford a deserved lead.

While Waterford proved to be efficient in front of the Cork goals with the chances they had, at the opposite end, Waterford were very hard to break, with Brianna O’Regan between the posts for Waterford standing out when called upon.

However, two errors in the Waterford defence resulted in frees to the home side which Aoibhinn Kidney converted to leave the home side trailing 0-5 to 0-3 at the break.

Cork came out of the for the second half like a greyhound out of the traps and made all the early running, but they could not break down the Waterford defence. It was Waterford who opened the second half scoring with a brace of points from Beth Carton who is in brilliant form in recent weeks to extend Waterford’s lead to four.

Cork tagged on two points to rein in Waterford’s lead to what it was at the break, but Beth Carton hammered home a goal for Waterford to put five points between the sides, but the lead was cut almost straight away when Emma Flanagan pointed after a good run through the Waterford defence.

With eight minutes to play, a testing ball was lobbed in around the Waterford goalmouth which was not dealt with as the Waterford defensive unit would have likes and Chloe Sigerson was first to react and put the ball in the Waterford net.

Trailing by one, Cork put a lot of pressure on the Waterford defence in the closing minutes of the game and it looked as though Waterford would hold out for a win, but in the closing seconds of the game Cork won a close in free which Aoibhinn Kidney made no mistake with, putting the sliotar between the uprights. The full time whistle quickly followed and the two sides had to settle for a share of the spoils.

In Waterford’s other games in the championship it was wins all round, with good wins recorded over Westmeath at Bushy Park and then wins over Derry and Armagh at venues in Dublin in recent weeks.

This is a game that could go to the wire and if it was to finish after sixty minutes in a similar manor to the previous meeting between the two sides, it would not be the biggest surprise in the world. In the group stages Waterford scored more than Cork did in their four games, but Cork conceded less than what Waterford did.

The sides met on one other occasion this year, clashing in the Munster ‘B’ final at the Gold Coast Grounds, and the game resulted in a 3-10 to 0-4 win for Waterford having lead 1-7 to 0-2 at the break.

The Waterford panel that is used for much of the campaign to date and that which the team is most likely to be picked from on Saturday is - Brianna O'Regan (De La Salle), Rachel Donnelly (Brickeys), Sarah Geoghegan (Lismore), Courtney Healy (De La Salle), Megan Dunford (Brickeys), Roisin Cahillane (Cappoquin), Bronwyn Grace (St. Anne’s), Iona Heffernan (Ferrybank), Caoimhe McGrath (Brickeys), Molly Curran (Brickeys), Jessica Glavin (Cappoquin), Aisling Power (Cappoquin), Niamh Ahearne (Ferrybank), Beth Carton (De La Salle), Elizabeth McGrath (Butlerstown), Clodagh Glavin (Cappoquin), Hannah Murphy-Nix (Brickeys), Kate McMahon (Butlerstown), Sarah Murray (Tramore), Ciara Twomey (De La Salle), Emily Power (Cappoquin), Catherine Hahessy (Brickeys), Taylor Murray (Dungarvan), Sibeal Harney (St. Anne’s), Aoife Shanahan(St. Anne’s), Saoirse Bonner (St. Anne's), Kayleigh Veale (Dungarvan).

After the game in Cork it is a quick trip for Waterford back onto the Southern Ring Road, through the Jack Lynch Tunnel and M8 and head north turning off at Junction 11 and making the short journey into Cahir Town for a Munster Intermediate and Minor ‘B’ double where the opposition will be provided by Tipperary and Kerry respectfully.

The minor game against Kerry is the second of the double header, which makes a little sense as it allows those involved with the under 16 game earlier in the day some breathing space between the games.

This game was originally due to be played back in March but it was called off at relatively short notice.

The sides clashed at the same stage of the competition last year and the game ended in a victory for Waterford in Cork.

Waterford will be able to call on some of the players involved in that win and their experience should stand to them in this game.

In the build up to the original fixture Waterford had a lot of preparation done, having played the likes of Wexford and Kilkenny in training games.

Since then Waterford have played in the All-Ireland ‘B’ Championship, where they played Dublin who they lost to by two points and a strong Offaly side who had twelve points to spare and in the All-Ireland Plate Final they took on Down who again proved too strong running out 3-7 to 0-3 winners.

Since then, many of the team have had Junior and Leaving certs on their mins, but in the past few weeks they will have this game on their minds.

They will be able to call upon players who are involved with the senior set up this year and they should prove an invaluable asset to this panel. However, as from the can be seen with the panel, listed which was the one that was in action in the All-Ireland Plate Final, there is some cross over of players from the under 16 game earlier in the day and it remains to be seen how many will line out for both sides.

Waterford Minor panel: Jade Fraher (Cappoquin), Bonnie Keating (St Anne’s), Sarah Geoghegan (Lismore), Aoife Houlihan (Lismore), Johanna Houlihan (Lismore), Roisin Cahillane (Cappoquin), Sarah Coughlan (Lismore), Lorraine Bray (Cappoquin), Clare Murphy (St Anne’s),Valerie O’Brien (Roanmore), Mia O’Flynn (Tallow), Angela Flynn (St Anne’s), Jessica Glavin (Cappoquin), Sinead Cummins (St Anne’s), Rebecca Kavanagh (St Anne’s), Elizabeth McGrath (Butlerstown), Sara Judge (Gaultier), Iona Heffernan (Ferrybank), Shauna Fennessy (Lismore), Eimear Walsh (De La Salle), Hayley Cox (De La Salle), Aishling Heffernan (Ferrybank), Caoimhe McGrath (Brickey Rangers), Labhaoise Dunbar (St Anne’s) and Michelle McDonnell (St Anne’s).

The main game of the weekend could well be the Munster Intermediate final between Waterford and Tipperary.

Tipperary has had an indifferent All-Ireland Championship. They began with a 2-10 to 2-7 win over Wexford at The Ragg.

This was a game that Tipperary looked like winning with some ease, but Aoife Shiel who had come on as a sub for Wexford in this game hit 1-1 late in the game to make it a nervous finish for the home side.

Tipperary got off to a flying start in the game and at the break lead by seven points with Maria Ryan, Aoife Ryan, Ciara Johnston and Aoife McLoughney all raising white flags with Ciara Johnston getting the umpire to reach for a green flag.

Wexford continued to put Tipperary under pressure in the second half and enjoyed much of the procession but despite a brace effort in particular by Aoife Shiel, they were unable to cut the home sides’ lead at the break to get anything from the game.

Tipperary followed this win up with a heavy defeat away to Meath at Rathoath loosening 4-14 to 0-6 and in their last game, they suffered a 1-11 to 1-10 defeat to Galway at Ballinasloe, a game which had they got a positive result, they would be in an play off at worst to see could they win a place in the All-Ireland semi finals.

Despite bowing out of the All-Ireland Championship at the group stages, Tipperary will be up for this game and will be looking for big games from the likes of Antoinette Kennedy, Ciara Johnston, Aoife Ryan, Maria Ryan and Aoife McLoughney.

However they will be up against a Waterford side that are playing well at the moment. They lost last time out against Limerick and will want to get that result out of their system as quickly as possible ahead of the meeting with Galway towards the end of August in the All-Ireland semi final.

In the championship Waterford put good wins together over Cork, Kilkenny and Antrim ahead of the meeting with Limerick last week.

Prior to this, the Waterford team had an excellent run in the National League, reaching the semi finals where they were somewhat unlucky to have gone under to Kildare in a terrible day for any game to take place.

In the semi final of the Munster Championship they had a good 4-14 to 1-11 win over Cork at the Tallow Club Grounds.

Waterford played with the wind at their backs in the first half on the day and at the break held a 1-7 to 0-4 lead, the goal coming from Karen Kelly after some good work by Lorraine Bray.

Waterford continued to dominate in the second half as Zoe O’Donoghue was again set up by Lorraine Bray to score a second goal, and the Cappoquin lady went from goal provider to goal scorer shortly afterwards as she hit a third for the Déise girls having been set up by Nicola Morrissey. Waterford’s fourth goal on the day was scored by Nicola Morrissey.

Waterford manager Mark Cooney and his selectors have given a lot of players a run out so far this year and they are likely to be picking from the following this weekend in Cahir - Deirdre Brennan, Emma Hannon, Fiona Morrissey, Vicky Falconer, Marie Russell, Charlotte Raher, Jenny McCarthy, Jennie Simpson, Shona Curran, Trish Jackman, Nicola Morrissey, Zoe O'Donoghue, Lorraine Bray, Valerie O'Brien, Mairead Murphy, Aishling O'Brien, Laura Buckley, Ciara Keogh, Deirdre Nugent , Clair Murphy, Orla O'Neill, Nicola Fitzgerald, Labhaoise Dunbar, Sarah Coughlan, Sara Judge, Clare Whyte and Johanna Houlihan.

Fixture Details for this Saturday

Under 16 All-Ireland ‘B’ Play off: Waterford V Cork in Mahon at 1pm.

Munster Intermediate Final: Waterford V Tipperary in Cahir at 5-15pm

Munster Minor ‘B’ Final: Waterford V Kerry in Cahir at 7pm.