Waterford and Armagh set to do battle for top spot in Ladies National Football League showdown.

 

Waterford Intermediate Ladies footballers face their toughest test to date in 2014 when they take on Armagh in the final game of the league section of this year’s National Football League at Lemybrien on Sunday afternoon.

This will be the first meeting of the two sides since they clashed in the 2012 All-Ireland Final at Croke Park where Armagh came out on top, winning 1-12 to 1-5.

While Armagh on that day were full value for their win, maybe the gap on the score line did not do Waterford justice as the side did have chances to score, but it was one of those that’s that the ball for some reason refused to go between the posts.

Both could well start with about 11 of the sides that started in Croke Park that day. For Armagh Sarah Marley, Sharon Reel, Niamh Marley, Niamh Henderson, Sinead McCleary, Caroline O’Hanlon, Marian McGuinness, Mags McAlinden, Fionnuala McKenna and Kelly Mallon would all be expected to start this weekend. Catherine McAlinden who started in goal in 2012 against Waterford has started half of her sides games played to date this year with Katie Daly, the daughter of the team manager starting the other half. No doubt a call will be made in the Orchard County as to which of the two will be the number 1 for the year ahead soon, possibly ahead of this weekends game, and that the chosen one if the rotation system remains in place for this weekends game in Lemybrien, will be held in reserve for the counties league semi final in the coming weeks with the other likely to start against Waterford.

Back in 2012 Siobhan Mackle, Mairead Tennyson and Cailin Duffy came on in the win over Waterford as subs and it is envisaged that the first two named could well start this weekend with Duffy who has come on in four of her sides games played so far in the league as a sub once more sprung from the bench, that is if she is not given the chance to show from the start this weekend that she deserves a place in the team from the start for the remainder of the year.

Throughout the league, four players have started in all games for Armagh. Caoimhe Morgan has made the number three shirt her own. Fionnuala McKenna started the hear in the middle of the field before moving into full forward, returning again to the middle of the field and in recent games has started at centre forward. Lauren McConville played the first three games at centre forward before moving to the wing and more recently played at Corner Forward. Marian McGuinness has moved all over the field, starting at wing forward, centre field, centre back, wing back before moving back again to wing forward.

A further six players, Mairead Tennyson, Sarah Marley, Sharon Reel, Niamh Marley, Kelly Mallon and Siobhan Mackle have started all but one game for the Orchard County side.

Fionnuala McKenna is the top scorer for Armagh this year in the league hitting an impressive 3-30, 0-15 of which has comes from frees. Caroline O’Hanlon has also featured strongly in the scoring stakes hitting 7-14 in just four games; her lowest tally on the score sheet in these four games was 1-4.

For Waterford, the year has gone well to date.

The plate final of the Jim Kennedy cup was won prior to the league starting and since then, they have won five of their six games played, their only loss coming in an away game against Sligo.

Throughout the campaign, Waterford manager Pat O’Brien and his selectors while giving 25 players a run out in the six games played to date, they have a very settled look to the team as 12 of these 25 players have started every game and more often than not in the same positions which suggests that they may have a fair indication as to what their best team might be heading into the championship which could well bode good for Waterford.

Not surprising, Michelle Ryan is the team’s top scorer to date. She has hit an excellent 4-23 to date and will be looking to extend on that this week and in subsequent games that she plays in.

However, this is by no means a one lady team and the long serving Ballymacarbry Club player is ably assisted when it comes to the scoring by her fellow team mates. 14 players have scored so far in the league for Waterford. Margaret Revins is next in line to Michelle Ryan on the score sheet records. She has proven to be a revelation this year on the edge of the square hitting 7-8 in the six games she has played in and alongside her the equally deadly Hannah Landers in five games has hit 5-7. It’s a while since any lady footballer was honoured with the monthly awards presented within the county but surely it is only a matter of time before these players and others catch the eye of the selectors of such awards as they put up some impressive tallies.

At the other end of the field, Waterford has proven equally impressive. Aimee Jordan has over the course of the league impressed a lot, making some excellent saves to keep Waterford in the game at times when things may be tight and has also got herself on the score sheet this year hammering a penalty to the net in the game against Sligo.

Nora Dunphy, Ciara Dunphy and Mary Foley seemed to have nailed the number two to four shirts on their backs for now with some impressive performance and the same could be said of Louise Ryan and Karen McGrath in front of them with the likes of Mairead Wall, Megan O’Connor, Liz Devine and Roisin Tobin all fighting it out for the other shirt in the half back line.

Michelle McGrath and Elaine Power for a long number of years now have proven to be one of the best centre-field pairing in the country.

In the half forward line Michelle Ryan at Centre forward is a real workaholic and is a thorn in the side of many a defence she plays against while on either side of her Linda Wall and Mairead Wall are also hugely important players for Waterford.

In the inside forward line, Margaret Revins as has been pointed out is proving to be a revelation this year and could well prove to be key to a successful year for Waterford. Along side her Hannah Landers and Aileen Wall have really grown in stature in the past few years and they never give any side an easy time and also know where the posts are. The Ballyduff Upper club girl has hit 5-7 so far in the league as pointed out while the Ballymacarbry club player is not far behind her having hit 3-8.

Of course no team is complete without back up. Pat O’Brien this year has decided to freshen things up a little by bringing in some of the talent from successful underage years and the likes of Liz Devine, Lauren McGregor, Megan O’Connor and Shauna Dunphy has not let him down, while there is experience in the likes of Grainne Costello who has got some game time between the posts this year when coming on as a sub.

Last time out Shona Curran and Grainne Kenneally who are now free of Camogie Duties with Lismore got their first run outs of the year with the county footballers and could well get another run out this weekend. Shona would further strengthen the forward division while Grainne could well do the same in defence. The biggest problem for the management team should they decide to use the two experienced duel inter county players is to who they could afford to leave out.

This is a game that both sides will want to win. As things stand, Armagh sit top of the table with maximum points from their six games played while Waterford are just three points behind after their slip up to Sligo.

The importance of winning the group cannot be spelt out enough, as it will almost certainly avoid Tipperary in the semi finals who while loosing to both Waterford (2-8 to 1-10) and Armagh (1-12 to 2-7) but if given the chance in a knockout game, the Premier County side would be more than capable of reversing the earlier result.

Armagh may go into the game with a slight advantage over Waterford on the league table as well as having scoring slightly more (9 points) and conceded less (13 points) the home side may have a slight advantage as sometimes when teams travel long distances to games it does take something from you, and even if a side were to travel some or all of the way to the game the evening before, sleeping in a strange bed means that you might not get the nights sleep you would in your own bed.

Most will be making Armagh favourites to win this game as they are favourites to win this league from the start, but don’t write off the changes of Waterford too easily.

Tesco Homegrown NFL Div 3 Division 3

	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	Points For	Points Against	Points Diff	Points
Armagh	6	6	0	0	147	60	87	18
Waterford	6	5	1	0	138	73	65	15
Tipperary	6	4	2	0	115	80	35	12
Leitrim	6	3	3	0	108	119	-11	9
Wexford	6	2	3	1	90	117	-27	7
Sligo	6	2	4	0	124	134	-10	6
Longford	6	1	4	1	69	115	-46	4
Offaly	6	0	6	0	53	146	-93	0

Fixtures for this weekend:

Leitrim V Tipperary (Leitrim will qualify for the semi finals if they win here, or if Wexford fail to beat Sligo. Tipperary are in the semi finals and finish in third position.)

Offaly V Longford (Offaly are relegated. Longford cannot qualify for the semi finals)

Waterford V Armagh (Both teams are in the semi finals. The winners top the group. A draw would mean Armagh top the group_

Wexford V Sligo (Wexford can qualify for the semi finals if they beat Sligo and Leitrim fail to beat Tipperary. A draw for Leitrim would see Wexford advance having won the head to head with Leitrim if they beat Sligo).

National Football League Regulations 2014 - Qualification for Semi Finals

 1. Where two teams only are involved the placing will be determined as follows and in the order specified:

* The outcome of the game played between the two teams in the previous game in the competition will determine the placing ie First or Second, Second or Third, Third or Fourth, Fourth or Fifth.

* Should the previous game have ended in a draw, the team with the highest number of points scored as in ball put over the bar, not aggregate points in that specific game will determine the placing.

* If still level a Playoff will take place.

 2. Where more than two teams are level on points the following shall apply:

* The 3 teams go into a hat, first out will get a bye and the other two teams will compete in a playoff game.

* Where 3 Teams are tied for 4th place, two teams are drawn to play each other from the hat with the Winner playing the remaining Team to secure the final placing(s)