Waterford are 60 minutes from potential All-Ireland Glory

A big day for Waterford Camogie is just twenty-four hours away.

Waterford and Derry do battle at the at the St Peregrine’s club in Blakestown (Dublin) on Saturday afternoon at 2pm.

The county has seen a great increase in the level of interest in the game in recent years but it is 11 years now since the county last won a underage All-Ireland final, when Lismore’s Laura Buckley lofted the Under 16 ‘B’ All-Ireland Trophy when they beat Armagh in Portlaoise on a 6-11 to 1-4 score line.

A number of that team have gone on to represent the county at a higher level, winning different honours at adult level and no doubt many of the players in the current panel will be looking to go on in the coming years to replicate and better what the ‘Class of 03’ have achieved.

It’s not for me to decide what way different championships are ran off. That is a matter for those charged with running the Association to do, or for a club or county to come up with a different format to what is currently in use, but is possibly fair to say that maybe not all are happy with the way the current championship is run off.

Four teams were drawn together in group one of this years ‘B’ Championship and three teams in group two. When Westmeath withdrew from group one it meant that there was three teams in both groups giving each county two games, which is hardly sufficient if the game is to be promoted and players developed.

Would for example we be better off in the future seeing the six or seven teams all grouped together and they play each other once, meaning that the players would have a minimum of five or six games each year in the All-Ireland Championship.

However, such a proposal is for someone else to look at on another day.

Waterford’s first game in the championship was to have been against Westmeath back on February 22, but after the midland county withdrew from the competition, it meant that Waterford had to wait till March 16 for their first game, an away game to Dublin who had lost to Derry 3-7 to 2-4 in the first round of games.

Waterford won that game 2-11 to 2-6 and with Derry getting a walk over from Westmeath the same weekend, it meant that their third round game on March 22 was in effect a dead rubber game as both had qualified for the semi finals in advance of the game, with the two sides battling it out just to see which of the two would top the group and get what would be perceived to be the easier semi final.

The Oak Leaf County won the game with Waterford, but it was close, as they ran out winners on a 3-7 to 4-3 score line.

Group two of the championship proved to be a very close affair, with Antrim, Down and Kildare all recording one win each from their two games.

This meant that the three sides had to play off again to see which two of the three would advance to the semi finals along with Derry and Waterford as score difference was not used to decide placing’s after the sides finished level.

Down and Kildare were the sides that advanced to the semi finals with Waterford paired with Down who were deemed group winners and Derry played Kildare.

Waterford made the journey to the Blakestown venue last weekend for that game and emerged victors on a 2-15 to 2-5 score line, while in the other semi final Derry had a very comfortable 6-6 to 1-6 win over Kildare.

While Waterford will go into this game without much collective competitive match time at their backs, they will however be well prepared for this game as manager Shane ‘Shiner’ Ahearne will have left no stone unturned.

A number of the side were involved with the Waterford Presentation School team that contested the recent Junior All-Ireland Final against Mercy School from Roscommon in Nenagh. Others were involved with Lismore in their recent All-Ireland Intermediate Club win over Ballyhale Shamrocks in Clonmel while many others will be involved with their club sides in the county leagues which started recently.

The team will be picked by and large from last years under 16 team that won the Munster Final against Cork but later lost the All-Ireland to the same opposition. Standing to be corrected on it, 17 of last years under 16 panel are involved in this years minor panel. The panel also includes some slightly older players in the likes of Johanna Houlihan who stared for Lismore earlier this year in the All-Ireland Final run; Labhaoise Dunbar from Saint Anne’s who captain’s the team, Sara Judge from Gaultier. and Lorraine Bray who is part of the Counties Intermediate set up with the past two seasons. 

From last years Under 16 panel, Beth Carton, Courtney Healy and Brianna O’Regan played a major part in helping Presentation Convent to reach their All-Ireland final while others including Bronwyn Grace, Rachel Donnelly, Sibeal Harney, Taylor Murray, Caoimhe McGrath, Niamh Ahearne, Catherine Hahessey, Sarah Geoghegan, Elizabeth McGrath, Molly Curran and Iona Heffernan could all have vital rolls to play.

No All-Ireland is won easily (few of them anyway) and this one is going to be no different.

Derry may go into the game as the favourite’s haven beaten Waterford already in the championship and also going on the margin of victory they had in their semi final against Kildare.

However, the previous game between the two sides should be forgotten about this weekend.

Regular readers of this blog and those who read what I might have to say elsewhere will know that I have a theory that when two teams clash in close proximity, the team that lost the first game often has a slight advantage for the second game, as the winners of the first game have a psychological thing telling then that they won that they will again the second day, but it often works in reverse as the team that looses the first day should have something telling them that they have to do better than they did in the first game and it often works.