A big Deise weekend in Camogie, Ladies Football, Hurling and Football

We have often seen Sky Sports on big Premiership weekend’s describe as such things as ‘Super Sunday’ etc. It often happens when there are two or more big games played on the one day or over the one weekend.

This weekend, when it comes to the G.A.A. in Waterford, it is going to be a massive weekend.

We have three of our underage football teams in action in Dungarvan, Cork and Limerick. Our minor hurlers must make the trip to Limerick on Sunday, our senior hurlers travel to Thurles on Saturday evening. On the same evening, our County Intermediate Camogie team are in action in Killeedy (Co Limerick, and earlier that afternoon, our County Intermediate Ladies Footballers have a Munster Final to contest against Tipperary at Castletownroche. But the weekend’s action gets under way this evening when the County’s Junior Footballers take on Cork in Fraher Field at 7-30pm in this years Munster Final.

It would be nice to start the weekend with some silverware handed over to Tom Wall, the Waterford Junior Football Captain about quarter to nine this evening. For it to happen will be a tough act, but one now beyond the bounds of possibility.

Waterford last won this championship in 2004. Since then, the competition has been dominated by Cork and Kerry who have won the competition on four occasions each. Kerry have won the competition in the years when the year ended with an even number and Cork won when the year ended in an odd numbers, suggesting that this once again is Cork’s turn to win.

Up to now in this year’s championship, the Rebels have looked strong. They had a very easy win over Cork in their Munster Quarter Final game and in the semi finals they followed the win up with a nine point win over Clare.

Cork looks as though that they have a lively attack. Against Limerick they hit 5-17 and against Clare they notched 18 points up on the scoreboard.

Against Clare, Ruairi Deane playing in the middle of the field hit 2-3. On the same evening corner forward David Harrington hit 2-1 while Cathal Vaughan and Colm O’Driscoll hit 0-5 to 1-1 respectfully.

Against Clare, it was Cathal Vaughan that proved to be Cork’s top scorer bringing his tally for this year’s championship to 13 points. Centre forward on the night Andrew O’Brien hit four points, Fiachra Lynch playing on the edge of the Clare score hit three points while Eoghan Buckley and Substitute Kevin O’Driscoll also got in on the scoring on the day.

Waterford’s sole game in the championship this year was an extra time win over Tipperary in Killarney at the semi final stages of the championship.

Waterford began that evening brightly, hitting a goal through David Power. At the break on the night it was no surprise that the two evenly matched sides were locked at 1-4 to 0-7. With five minutes to play on the night, Waterford had Ciaran Buckley sent off with Tipperary leading by one, suggesting that the advantage was with the side that had beaten the reigning champions in the previous round, but in those closing minutes, John Wall levelled matters and when goalkeeper Tom Wall put over a massive ’45 with time almost up, it looked as though Waterford were going to pull off a win, but straight from the restart, Tipperary attacked and won a free which Benny Hickey put over from a massive distance to sent the game to extra time.

In the extra 20 minutes, as in the original sixty, the sides proved to be evenly matched but Cork O’Shea put over a late point to ensure Waterford advance to this evening’s final.

Cork will go into the game as the favourite’s and its hard not to ague with the bookies. However, any Waterford side that plays at Fraher Field are hard to beat and this side is going to be no different.

Waterford Manager Tony Kelly has lost some players from the game against Tipperary, but club football in Waterford is fairly strong, and he is able to put out a strong starting fifteen, many of whom were involved with the Waterford senior team over the past few months and others who have played at different levels of football with the county over the past number of years.

Can Waterford win a third Munster Final at this level since 1999? It’s going to be a tough ask, but don’t be too surprised if it was to happen.

On Saturday morning the Waterford under fourteen, fifteen and sixteen teams has early starts to tournaments that they are involved in.

The Annual Jim Power Tournament takes place at the Dungarvan Club Grounds and at Bushy Park, the home of the Brickey Rangers at Carriglea.

This is always a very competitive tournament, but has never reached the same coverage as the Tony Forrestal Tournament which takes place in Waterford at the end of August. However, none the less it serves the same purpose and has helped launched the inter county careers of many of today’s top footballers. For many years, this tournament involved teams from Munster and Leinster but in recent years it is confined to teams from Munster.

Nine teams will compete in this year’s competition. Waterford, Clare and Clare have one team each involved while Tipperary, Cork and Kerry will have two teams each.

Tipperary are entering an ‘A’ and a ‘B’ team, Kerry are splitting their teams from North and South Kerry, while Cork will have East and West teams, the east team coming from the Seandun, Imokilly and Avondhu and Duhallow divisions while the West team will come from the Carbery, Beara, Carrigdhoun and Muskerry divisions.

Tipperary ‘B’ Cork East and Waterford are set to take part in group ‘A’ at the Dungarvan Club grounds. Group’s ‘B’ and ‘C’ will take place at Bushy Park. Kerry South, Tipperary ‘A’ and Clare are in Group ‘B’ while Cork West, Kerry North and Limerick are in Group ‘B’.

The top team along with the best placed second team will teach the semi finals, with the other two second placed teams in each group set to contest the plate final.

Details of fixtures are as follows:  

Group 1 @ Dungarvan GAA Club Grounds

11:00am - Tipperary B v Cork A (East)

12:30pm - Cork A  (East) v Waterford

2:00pm - Waterford v Tipperary B

Group 2 @ Bushy Park (Brickey Rangers GAA Grounds)

11:00am - Kerry South v Tipperary A

12:30pm - Tipperary A v Clare

2:00pm - Clare v Kerry South

Group 3 @ Bushy Park (Brickey Rangers GAA Grounds)

11:00am - Cork B (West) v Kerry North

12:30pm - Kerry North v Limerick

2:00pm -Limerick v Cork B (West)

Cup Semi Finals @3:30pm- Bushy  Park

Plate final @ 4:30pm - Fraher Field, Dungarvan

Cup Final @ 6:00pm - Fraher Field, Dungarvan

The annual Humphrey Kelleher under 15 football tournament is set to be fought out at Knocknagree and Dromtarriffe with the final set for Millstreet. .

This is a knockout competition, with the first round winners advancing to the tournament semi finals with the first round loser’s set to contest the plate semi finals later in the afternoon.

Details of fixtures are given below:

Quarter Finals

Cork West  v Waterford @ Knocknagree                   11am  (Referee D. Carroll)

Kerry South v Limerick @ Knocknagree                     11am (Referee D. O'Leary)

Kerry North  v  Tipperary @ Dromtarriffe                 11am (Referee J. Ryan)

Cork East  v  Clare @ Dromtarriffe                            11am (Referee D. Murnane)

Humphrey Kelleher Cup (Semi Finals)

Winner (Cork West / Waterford)  v  Winner (Kerry S. / Limerick)                12.30pm @ Knocknagree 

Winner (Kerry North / Tipperary v Winner (Cork East / Clare)                     12.30pm @ Dromtarriffe 

Humphrey Kelleher Losers (Semi Finals)

Loser (Cork West / Waterford)  v  Loser (Kerry South / Limerick)                12.30pm@ Knocknagree 

 Loser (Kerry North / Tipperary v Loser (Cork West / Clare)             12.30pm @ Dromtarriffe  

Humphrey Kelleher Losers (Final)                @Millstreet                2.30pm

Humphrey Kelleher Cup (Final)                     @Millstreet                3.45pm

Waterford’s under 16 football team travel to Adare on Saturday morning to take part in the Annual Woodlands House Hotel under 16 football tournament.

As in the case with the Under 15 tournament this is a knockout tournament with the first round winners advancing to the Tournament Semi Finals with the first round losers playing the plate semi finals.

Three of the first round games will be played at Venues in Rathkeale with the Waterford and Clare game as already pointed out travelling to Adare.

The semi final of the Plate and Tournament will again take place in Rathkeale and Adare with both the plate and tournament finals taking place in Rathkeale on Saturday afternoon.

Fixtures for this competition are outline below.

FIRST ROUND

(A)

Cork

V

Tipperary

Sean Marys/Sean Finns GAA Rathkeale

11am

(B)

Corcaigh

V

Kerry South

Mick Neville Park, Rathkeale Pitch 2

11am

(C)

Kerry North

V

Limerick

Mick Neville Park, Rathkeale Pitch 1

11am

(D)

Clare

V

Waterford

Adare GAA

11am

Winners of first round games advance to Cup semi-finals, Losers of first round games advance to Shield semi-finals

CUP SEMI-FINALS

C

V

A

St Marys/Sean Finns GAA Rathkeale

1pm

D

V

B

Mick Neville Park Pitch 2

1pm

SHIELD SEMI-FINALS

C

V

A

Mick Neville Pitch 1

1pm

D

V

B

Adare GAA

1pm

SHIELD FINAL -Venue: Mick Neville Park (1)

3.30pm

CUP FINAL -Venue:  Mick Neville Park (2)

3.30pm

 

In Ladies Football, Waterford and Tipperary make the journey to Castletownroche in North Cork for this year’s Intermediate Munster Final on Saturday evening.

The sides have clashed twice already this year and on both occasions victory went to the Waterford Ladies. Will Waterford make it a clean sweep or will it be third time lucky for Tipperary?

One thing we can be assured of is that the previous meetings between the two sides should be confined to the pages of history. Both games were fought out in difficult conditions.

In the Jim Kennedy Cup final back in January at Bansha, Waterford emerged as winners with one point to spare.

The sides met in the opening round of this year’s Munster Championship three weeks ago at Fraher Field. It’s hard to believe it with the weather we have experienced in the past week or so, but this game was played in terrible conditions.

A strong wind blew up the field on the day, which Tipperary had at their backs in the first half and retired at the end of thirty minutes of football holding a 1-7 to 0-7 lead with Edel Hanley in particular standing out for the Premier County.

However in the second half Waterford put in a much better performance.

Waterford hit early points from Linda Wall, Shona Curran and Michelle McGrath to level matters six minutes after the restart.

Tipperary kicked scores through Edel Hanley and Lorraine O’Shea to retake the lead but Waterford responded with a good score from Linda Wall.

Edel Hanley put over another free before Sinead Ryan pointed to leave one between the sides at the end of the third quarter in Tipperary’s favour.

Aileen Wall pointed for Waterford before Dearbhla Ní hit a goal for Waterford, the ball creeping to the net between Tipperary goalkeeper Jacquie O’Gorman and her near post.

From the restart, Tipperary attacked the Waterford goal and hit the Waterford net the second time this time through Lorraine O’Shea.

Gillian O’Brien kicked a point for Tipperary but in the closing minutes they had to play second fiddle to Waterford who called on the experience to hit the scores that won them the game.

There was some luck to some of Waterford’s scores in the last few minutes. Linda Wall pointed for Waterford before Sinead Ryan attempted her luck for a goal but Jacquie O’Gorman did well to turn the ball over for a point.

Lorraine O’Shea pointed for Tipperary to level matters, but with four minutes to play, a Michelle Ryan side line crept all the way to the Tipperary net to give Waterford a three point lead and within seconds, Ann Dunphy pointed to give Waterford a deserved four point lead with time almost up.

Waterford will go into this game as the favourites, but Tipperary will not make it easy for them. They have lost the last number of games between the sides but know on the law of averages, a win for them will have to come sometime.

Waterford’s Camogie team take on Limerick at Killeedy for a crucial game. Waterford have won their two games played in the championship to date, while Limerick last weekend suffered a blow when they lost their one hundred present record to Cork who had seven points to spare.

This is Limerick’s last game in the group section of the competition and defeat could well mean it is their last as both Waterford and Cork are just behind them in the table and they both have games in hand on the Shannon-siders.

When the two sides clashed in the league earlier this year, Waterford won a low scoring game by a point. Since then however, Limerick have gone on to win the league, easily accounting for Kildare in the final at Birr back in early May. Despite the defeat last weekend they will go into this weekend’s game in a confident mood.

They have some very good players who are capable of causing any side trouble. Niamh Mulcahy who is likely to start in the half forward line is a player that could prove to be very dangerous, as could Caoimhe Costello who will line out in the forwards as well. Sarah Carey in the middle of the field knows where the posts, as do the likes of Deirdre Fitzpatrick, Mary O’Callaghan, Deborah Murphy and Marie Keating.

Waterford too however will go into the game in a confident mood. If they manage to add points to the four they already have from their two games, they will have almost certainty guaranteed themselves a place in the knockout stages of the competition ahead of the sides last game in the league section of the competition against Antrim next week.

Trish Jackman is in fine form for Waterford of late, and she will be ably assisted by the likes of Jenny Simpson, Karen Kelly, Valerie O’Brien, Zoe O’Donoghue and Lorraine Bray in attack while at the opposite end of the field, be it Deirdre Brennan or Aisling O’Brien that is selected between the posts, Emma Hannon, Vicki Falconer etc. will all be fired up to come back from Limerick with a win.

Saturday evening also sees the counties senior hurlers take on Kilkenny in the third round of the All-Ireland qualifiers.

The sides have met on a number of occasions over the past few years, most notably in All-Ireland semi finals and in one final and on each occasion victory has gone to the side coached by Brian Cody.

Putting together this piece just before 3pm on Thursday, the Waterford team is not publically known. We can expect changes from the game with Westmeath. Jamie Nagle is set to be restored to the team after he was rested against the Midlanders. It is expected the Paudie Prendergast could also be brought back into the team after he was a late cry off for the last game and Fourmilewater pair Jamie Barron and Shane Walsh could also be set for a place in the team from the start.

Kilkenny are set to use many of the players which helped them beat Tipperary last weekend but we are told that Henry Shefflin will not be considered for the full seventy minutes. It remains to be seen whether he will start against Waterford or if like last week he will be sprung from the bench to give the ‘Cats’ a boost going in the final minutes of the game.

While Kilkenny have come out on top in many of the recent clashes between the two sides, there is something slightly different to this game.

All-Ireland Semi Finals and Finals between the two were played at Croke Park, a ground that Kilkenny have played at more times than any other side in the past decade and a half when it comes to hurling.

This Saturday’s game is in Thurles, the home of hurling, Waterford’s home from home, a ground where Waterford have played some of its best hurling since 1998 when the county re-joined the big guns.

The last meeting between the sides at the ground was the 2007 National Hurling League Final, a game that no Waterford supporter will need reminding, Waterford won.

This weekend Kilkenny are out for the fourth time in a little over a month. Yes, Waterford has played a similar amount of times, but there was a difference in the standard of hurling the sides had to play to get through the games.

With respect to Offaly and Westmeath, there is a difference between their standard and that of Dublin and Tipperary right now.

Kilkenny have not played yet this year like the Kilkenny we saw of old. Why is this? They have some players who are around a long time. Henry Shefflin and Tommy Walsh have a lot of hurling played in the last few years. Are they in need of a break? They have lost a number of players through retirements. Have they been replaced? We hear a lot about the Kilkenny second XV is the second best in the country, but those that have come in to replace the likes of Cha Fitzpatrick and Eddie Brennan etc. as good as those that they are replacing?

The games that they have played over the past month will have taken a bit out of the players. Momentum will get you so far, but it can’t keep you going for ever. You need a break every now and again. For last weekend, while there is rivalry between Waterford and Kilkenny for a few miles either side of the Suir as it flows through Waterford, there is an ever greater rivalry between Kilkenny and Tipperary and last week the Kilkenny players really had to up their performance. Can they do it again this weekend? Would they have won the game had Lar Corbett not having to go off. Up to that point he was causing the Kilkenny defence problems. He reminded me of the day John Mullane made his championship debut against Limerick in Cork in 2001, when he was a torn in the Limerick back sides and it was only after he went off that they were able to settle.

Waterford have only one championship win ever over Kilkenny. That came in the replayed All-Ireland Final in 1959. Someday, that statistic has to change. Will it be in 2013? You never know. If I was a Waterford hurler and getting ready for this weekends game, I would be more confident of beating Kilkenny in Thurles than I would in Croke Park.

Waterford’s final game of the weekend is the Munster Minor Hurling final. This is the fourth time since 2009 that Waterford has appeared in the Munster Final.

There is only one other meeting of the Waterford and Limerick in a Munster Final at this level of hurling. That came in 1958 when Limerick had a comfortable 8-9 to 2-5 win.

The last time the two sides clashed in the championship was back in 2001 when Waterford won 4-17 to 3-15. This was the night that Stephen Bennett introduced himself as a hurler to many when he hit a hat-trick of goals as a 15 year old.

Both sides go into this weekend’s game in a confident mood. Both had excellent wins in their respective semi finals. Limerick beat Tipperary in Thurles on a 1-17 to 0-17 score line while in Pairc Ui Rinn Waterford had a 3-19 to 1-20 win over Cork after extra time.

Putting together this piece, I am not aware of any team that is out in the public, but I would be expecting some changes from the team that started against Cork. If I am right and there is changes, is it a good or a bad thing? Every game played to date, the selectors have made changes for the following game and they have worked. Will it happen again?

We all know that there is some considerable amount of talent in this Waterford minor team. We all know win or otherwise, it is not the end of the road after Sunday. A win would see Waterford advance to an All-Ireland semi final in August, a defeat and it means that a quarter final will have to be played later this month.

Some of the players involved in this panel have experienced some good days already in 2013. Will Sunday be another good day for them? I have a feeling it might, but Limerick won’t make it easy for them.

EDIT: Waterford also have its Under 16 Camogie team in action this Sunday. The side are unbeaten in this years Championship with wins recorded against Westmeath and Armagh as well as a very good draw from their game against Cork. This weekend Waterford travel to the Trinity Gaels G.A.A. Club Grounds in Dublin to play Derry with the game having a 1-30pm throw in.

Weekend Teams:

Waterford Minors V Limerick: Gavin Power (Dungarvan); William Hahessy (Clonea), Kevin Daly (Dungarvan), Cian Leamy (Ballyduff Upper); Tom Devine (Modeligo), Austin Gleeson (Mount Sion) Shane Bennett (Ballysaggart); Conor Gleeson (Fourmilewater), Michéal Harney (Bonmahon); Adam Farrell (De La Salle), Colm Roche (Shamrocks), DJ Foran (Portlaw); Patrick Curran (Dungarvan), Stephen Bennett (Ballysaggart), Michael Kearney (Ballyduff Upper).      

Limerick V Waterford: Colin Ryan (Pallasgreen); Jamie Porter (Monaleen), Richard English (Doon), Sean Finn (Bruff); Stephen Ryan (Doon), Andrew La Touche Cosgrave (Monaleen), Sean Flanagan (Feoghanagh/Castlemahon); Jamie Bulter (Feoghanagh/Castlemahon), Darragh Donovan (Doon); Barry Nash (South Liberties), David Dempsey (Na Piarsaigh), Cian Lynch (Patrickswell); Dean Coleman (Doon), Ronan Lynch (Na Piarsaigh), Pat Ryan (Doon).

Waterford V Kilkenny: Stephen O’Keeffe(Ballygunner) Shane Fives(Carrigtwohill), Liam Lawlor (Fourmilewater), Noel Connors(Passage); Jamie Nagle(Dungarvan), Michael Walsh (Stradbally), Darragh Fives (Tourin); Kevin Moran (De La Salle), Richie Foley (Abbeyside); Jake Dillon (De La Salle), Seamus Prendergast (Ardmore), Shane O’Sullivan (Ballygunner); Brian O’Sullivan (Ballygunner), Maurice Shanahan (Lismore), Jamie Barron (Fourmilewater).

Kilkenny V Waterford: Eoin Murphy (Glenmore), Paul Murphy (Danesfort), J.J. Delaney (Finians), Jackie Tyrell (James Stephens); Tommy Walsh (Tullaroan), Brian Hogan (Laughlin Gaels), Kieran Joyce (Inistioge); Eoin Larkin (James Stephens), Michael Rice (Carrickshock); Colin Fennelly (Ballyhale Shamrocks), Richie Power (Carrickshock), Matthew Ruth (James Stephens); Richie Hogan (Danesfort), Walter Walsh (Tullogher Rosbercon), Aidan Fogarty (Emeralds).