A Déise win in Fraher Field would secure semi final spot

In the last few weeks, there can be no disputing when it came to our Ladies teams and the GAA where all our attentions were focused.

Lismore’s path to All-Ireland glory is well documented by now. The past two weekends have seen the counties Intermediate Camogie team narrowly miss out on victories in their games against Meath and Kildare. The defeats mean that despite the fact Waterford have yet to play Cork, the county cannot qualify for the semi finals of the league.

The Presentation Convent schools and the County Minor Camogie team have also played important games over the past weekend, but this weekend the main focus switches from Camogie to Football.

Already in the past week there has been good wins for the counties Under 16 team against Kerry and for the counties under 14 side against Tipperary, a victory that means that the county are through to the Munster ‘B’ Final where they are bidding for a three in a row of titles and they also play Kerry in the Munster ‘A’ Semi final in the coming weeks.

However, the main focus of attention this weekend will be on Sunday when Waterford takes on Leitrim at Fraher Field in the sixth round of games in this year’s National Football League.

Both sides go into this weekend’s game in good form. The home side need just one point from their last two games to secure a place in the semi finals, while Leitrim should they collect a full brace of points in any of their last two league games it should secure them a place in the semi finals.

Leitrim this year are under the guidance of Martin Dolan and have been playing well up to now.

They began their league campaign with a 9-9 to 6-6 win over Sligo and followed it up with a 2-12 to 0-7 win over Longford and 3-9 to 0-9 win over Offaly, but in their last two games have gone under to Wexford on a 2-11 to 0-13 score line and last time out suffered a heavy 6-18 to 0-6 defeat away to Armagh who are the favourites to win this years Division three league final.

Throughout the campaign they have had some very good performance from the likes of Amy McLaughlin, Marina Gray, Claire Beirne, Sarah McLaughlin, Áine Tighe, Áine Heslin, Sharon Kerrigan, Mary Farrell, Lorraine Brennan and Róisín Fowley who will all have to be watched carefully by the Waterford team.

Waterford up to now has been very impressive in the league.

Against Offaly at the Gold Coast Grounds Waterford proved too strong for last years Division four league as well as the Leinster and All-Ireland Junior Champions, winning on a 3-13 to 1-5 score line.

Against Wexford who were beaten in last years All-Ireland Junior final Waterford again put up another very big score winning 5-15 to 1-9.

Tipperary were expected to provide stiff opposition for Waterford at Fraher Field in round three and the side who are managed this year by former All-Ireland hurling winner John Leahy did not disappoint as they made Waterford work very hard for a 2-8 to 1-10 victory.

In Round four Waterford again put up another very big score putting 6-15 past Longford who put five points on the score board against a very tight Waterford defence on the day.

Waterford’s last game was against Sligo on March 9, and resulted in a 1-15 to 1-9 win for Sligo at the IT Sligo grounds.

Waterford are once again under the guidance of Pat O’Brien and he has got some good performances from his side this year.

He has been unable up to now been able to call upon the likes of Aoife Landers, Ann Dunphy, Shona Curran and Grainne Kennelly who are amongst the first names on the tea sheet over the years when they are available. He and his selectors have brought in some excellent good young players and they have not let him down.

Margaret Revins is in top form playing on the edge of the square and along side here Hannah Landers is in the form of her life. Michelle Ryan is also at her usual best and unsurprisingly is the sides’ top scorer up to now and Aileen and Linda Wall continue to be a treat to all sides they play against.

Elaine Power and Michelle McGrath continue to be a top class pairing in the middle of the field. Amy Jordan and Grainne Costello have share goalkeeping duties, while Karen McGrath, Nora Dunphy, Louise Ryan, Mary Foley, Mairead Wall and Roisin Tobin have been very impressive in the defensive positions.

Despite Waterford loosing to Sligo last time out and Sligo loosing to Leitrim in the first round of games, Waterford will be confident of a win here, which would mean that a place in the semi finals would be secured ahead of the meeting with Armagh who have already qualified for the semi finals ahead of the last two rounds games in the league.

A win for Leitrim at Fraher Field as well as a win for Tipperary against Longford at Monroe would mean that Waterford, Leitrim and Tipperary would all qualify for the semi finals along with Armagh.

However should Waterford and Tipperary win this weekend, and Wexford were to beat Offaly at a venue yet to be confirmed, it would mean that Wexford would still have a chance of making the semi finals as would Sligo and Leitrim which would make the final round of games on April 6 very interesting.

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	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	Points For	Points Against	Points Diff	Points
Armagh	5	5	0	0	126	41	85	15
Waterford	5	4	1	0	112	56	56	12
Tipperary	5	3	2	0	100	70	30	9
Leitrim	5	3	2	0	91	93	-2	9
Sligo	5	2	3	0	105	113	-8	6
Longford	5	1	3	1	59	100	-41	4
Wexford	5	1	3	1	64	108	-44	4
Offaly	5	0	5	0	44	120	-76	0