Football in Waterford in 2013 - a review

It’s hard to know where football is in Waterford at this point. There can be no disputing that there is talent within the county, but getting results for some reason seem to be a problem.

For anyone to fault those that play football at a serious level within the county would be wrong. These people have worked very hard to keep the game ticking over in Waterford and they deserve great praise for doing so.

Attendances for many games are not great. For most senior inter county games there may be a few hundred people at a game to see Waterford play. For underage games, this figure can be revised downward somewhat, and when it comes to club football in the county, attendances at some games are very poor.

Questions have to be asked from the top down as to why games are so poorly attended. In the National league, for example Waterford plays in Division four. Patrons attending a game in Fraher Field are expected to pay the same amount to see Waterford play London or Carlow as what supporters of Dublin and Kerry would be asked to pay when there sides meet at Croke Park or Fitzgerald Stadium. Across channel in another sporting code, Manchester City and Liverpool play today in the biggest Premiership game of the day. I don’t know what supporters paid to get into the Etihad Stadium, but supports of Morecambe and Fleetwood, two sides fighting for promotion near the top of League Two would not have paid the same.

When it comes to games played locally, would it be worth a try at least halving what is charged to go into games and maybe as a result getting two or three people in for every one that goes to games now.

The year just ended in Waterford is another disappointing one when it comes to Football, but there were signs that maybe better things could be around the corner.

2013 began well for Waterford. Playing catch up on the rest, new manager Niall Carew wasted no time in putting together a strong panel, including some of the good young players that were coming through and for this he was not afraid to look below the senior grade for new players.

In the McGrath Cup, Waterford opened with an extra time win over UL in the Quarter Final stages of the competition, but bowed out at the semi finals where they lost to Tipperary after extra time.

The National League began brightly for Waterford with wins over Clare and then Tipperary, but disaster soon followed as defeats to Limerick, London, Leitrim and Offaly followed in the next four games.

However, Waterford rounded off the league with a good win away to Carlow.

The draw for the 2013 Munster Championship was far from kind for Waterford. Tipperary were drawn away to Kerry with Waterford awaiting the winners.

Great progress has been made with football in Tipperary in recent years. Underage success at Minor and Under 21 are just rewards for the work but in, but expecting them to beat Kerry who had a disappointing league campaign was always a tough task, and it was no surprise that Kerry did win the game rather easily.

Waterford travelled to Killarney a week later, and again the home side ran out convincing 4-21 to 1-4 winners.

In the qualifiers, Waterford were paired with Galway in the second round, after the tribesmen had a hard fought win over Tipperary in the first round.

Those that follow football will know that on a given day little separates Waterford and Tipperary and after the Premier County’s side performance against Galway, Waterford were in with a major shout of what many would call a shock result.

Waterford in this game really put it up to Galway on their own home soil, and with time running down, it looked as if that ‘shock result’ was going to be on the cards.

However, the home side put in a strong final few minutes of the game and in the end ran out one point winners, meaning that Waterford’s inter county season was over for another year.

The wins that Kerry recorded in the Munster Championship over Tipperary and then Waterford had people asking questions. Do counties like Tipperary and Waterford have future when it comes to football? Would counties like Tipperary and Waterford be better off playing in a Senior ‘B’ Championship, and let the stronger counties fight it out for the Sam Maguire each year? Should the Munster Championship revert back to a seeded draw, with the sides that played in the previous years Munster Final (most often than not Cork and Kerry) kept apart in the draw, meaning that it was most likely that the two would meet in the final again and again for some time to come.

Well the players of the four so called weaker counties let their feeling be known about the seeded draw by boycotting this year’s McGrath Cup.

Does anything be gotten in the long run by being on the wrong end of a heavy defeat by the likes of Kerry or Cork? In the long term it could do more damage than good, as there is a chance that younger players seeing Waterford suffer such defeats might decide that they will not play football as they grow older.

Would the four so called weaker counties be better off playing in a round robin competition, with the top two teams after three games advancing to the Munster Semi Finals where the fixtures would be made by an open draw? However, with the four sides regularly meeting in the national league, is there any purpose in them meeting again in another league during April or May, and would such a competition impact on the club championships meaning that less weekends are available for club games.

In Junior Football, Waterford had an extra time win over Tipperary in the semi finals. The game was played in Killarney which is something that the Munster Council might have to look at going into the future.

Waterford had two teams travelling to Killarney on the day, but what was to be got from bringing Tipperary all the way to Killarney for the second week running. Ok, the Munster Council are playing Junior games with Senior games, giving them reason to charge the maximum to get into games, but where the home team in the senior game are not involved in the junior game, would they be better off leaving the two sides due to play at a home and away venue to one side, as close to the county boundary as is possible where a field up to the required standard can be found.

Waterford’s extra time win set up a Munster Final against a very strong Cork side at Fraher Field and it was no surprise that the visiting side ran out easy winners on a 1-18 to 0-9 score line.

In under 21 Waterford were beaten 1-17 to 0-9 against Tipperary in Thurles and in Minor, despite little preparation, Waterford were able to beat Limerick in Fraher Field on a 3-10 to 3-9 score line which set up a semi final against Kerry, who were expected to prove too strong for Waterford in Killarney, and although they won, Waterford made life very difficult for the home side, loosing 1-15 to 2-6, but finished the game with fourteen having had a player sent off early in the second half after collecting a second yellow card and also missing a second half penalty.

A number of players that were involved with the minors this year were part of the Saint Augustine’s College team that won the Munster ‘C’ Senior Colleges football final and went on to beat Strokestown from Roscommon in the All-Ireland Final.

The win might be a ‘C’ Final in the eyes of some, and the standard may be off that set by the stronger Football sides, but a win is a win, it shows that there is talent coming through, giving those that labour hard to promote football in the county hope, which is something that we should never give up on.

In the club championships, the big three of Stradbally, Ballinacourty and The Nire were expected to reach the semi finals of the senior championship with a number of clubs contesting hard for the final semi final spot.

Unsurprisingly this is exactly what happened. Stradbally and Ballinacourty topped their respective groups with ten points from their five games.

The Nire as expected joined them in the semi finals, loosing three points in their five league games.  This year it was An Rinn that reached the semi finals. They are pushing for a place in the last four with a number of years, and it was no surprise that they reached the penultimate round of the competition this year.

 Along with Stradbally in group one, Clashmore and Kilrossanty advanced to the knockout stages of the competition. There was somewhat a surprize in this group as the final place in the quarter finals was taken by Saint Saviours, with Ardmore and Gaultier missing out.

The fact that the Ballybeg based outfit reached the knockout stages however was hardly a surprise. Although they have flirted with relegation over the past few years, they have shown that on a day, they can be as good as anyone else. They were helped this year with some transfers from Roanmore.

Having reached the knockout stages of the competition, there sites over the next couple of years should be to reach the same stage of the competition.

In group two along with Ballinacourty, The Nire and An Rinn, last years Intermediate champions Ballinameela reached the knockout stages, with Rathgormack and Brickeys missing out on a knockout spot.

In the quarter finals, Stradbally proved too strong for Ballinameela, An Rinn beat Clashmore, Ballinacourty finished very strong to beat Saint Saviours and in the game of the year for the second year running, The Nire beat Kilrossanty.

In the semi finals, the two only unbeaten sides were kept apart. Stradbally took on An Rinn and Ballinacourty played The Nire. The two games were rather one side with Stradbally winning by 21 points while three clear goals separated Ballinacourty from The Nire.

In the county final, from the off, Ballinacourty were always the hungrier of the two sides and it was no surprise to see them loft the Conway Cup into the air from the centre of the Stand at Fraher Field after the game.

In the Munster Championship, they beat Limerick champions Dromcollogher-Broadford in the quarter finals but lost out to Clare champions Cratloe in the semi finals.

In intermediate, De La Salle won the Eastern Final for the second year in a row beating John Mitchell’s in the final. In the west, Ballyduff Upper came out on top after they beat The Geraldine’s in the final. In the county decider, it was De La Salle who emerged on top. In the Munster Championship two attempts were needed against the Tipperary Champions Ballyporeen before the South Tipp side emerged to the semi final stages of the competition.

In Junior, Mount Sion for the third time in four years won the Eastern Final. They proved too strong for Kill in the final while in the west of the county it was Colligan that proved strongest beating Shamrocks in the final. In the County final, Mount Sion made up for two previous disappointments beating Colligan 2-9 to 0-9 at Fraher Field. In the Munster Championship however they had to give second best to a strong Keel side from Kerry at the semi final stages of the competition.

In the second string junior championships, we have what we have what we can only describe as farcical competitions, and you cant but wonder as some clubs are thinking is it time to revert back to Junior A and Junior B Competitions.

In the west, three Intermediate clubs fought out a ‘Junior Attached’ Competition, while in the senior clubs from the west of the county fought out a ‘Senior Attached’ Competition. In the east, because of a lack of senior clubs, all junior second string sides fought one competition between them.

The end result was that Saint Saviours came out on top in the competition in the east of the county beating De La Salle in the final.

In the west, Dungarvan came out on top in the competition for the Intermediate second string sides which included Melleray’s first choice team. Saint Saviours and Dungarvan (senior and intermediate second string sides) clashed in the county final where Saint Saviours came out on top.

Kilrossanty won the Western ‘Senior Attached’ competition but there was no opposition available to play them in the county final.

In under 21, Rathgormack won the Eastern final beating Tramore in the final while in the West Ballinacourty proved too strong for Saint Oliver’s having a goal to spare. In the county final, Rathgormack emerged victors over Ballinacourty winning 1-8 to 0-5.

In the ‘B’ Championship, the Nire were winners in the West, beating Ardmore 4-16 to 1-8 in the final while in the east, Saint Mary’s beat Portlaw in the final on a 1-10 to 1-7 score line but had to give second best to The Nire in the County Final who won 1-17 to 1-2.

In Minor football championship Dungarvan had a massive 6-11 to 0-9 win over The Nire in the Division One final, in Division two Brickeys had a 0-12 to 1-7 win over Stradbally and in division three An Gaeltacht beat Saint Mary’s.