Waterford’s Camogie heroines are back in action this weekend

One week on from winning the All-Ireland Minor ‘B’ Camogie Title where they beat a fancied Derry side, Waterford’s latest sporting heroines are out again this weekend where they will be hoping to add a Munster Shield Final medal to their medal collection.

Saturday 26 April 2014 is a day that will long live in the memories of those involved in the victorious Waterford Camogie team.

There would have been some that were making Waterford underdog for the final against Derry, and they possibly were, having lost to the same opposition less than a month previous in the league section of the competition, a game that was in effect a dead rubber game as both had qualified for the semi finals.  Both sides were effectively going through the motions, to see which of the two would top the group and in turn, get what some would perceive to be the easier of the semi finals, but as we all know when it come to the knockout stages of any competition, there is no such thing as an easier game as time and time again we have seen the side perceived to be the weaker team come out on top.

But with many years, I have a theory that when sides clash in close proximity in the same competition, the advantage is often with the side that lost the first game in the second meeting of the two sides.

I pointed this out last week and thankfully the Waterford team proved me correct with my line of thinking which is that the winner the first day often believe having won already against a team they will beat them again and could well go into the second game a little cocky.

I am not saying that Derry went into last weekend’s game with Waterford a cocky side. What I would say is that Waterford went into that game with a point to prove. That point was that although a point separated the sides in the previous clash, they would have believed that they could do better against the Oak Leaf County and this is exactly what they did.

Right from the off Waterford were always on top. At the back Waterford were brilliant.

Regular readers of what I have to say on here will know that I greatly admire the skills of Lismore and Waterford Camogie player Aisling O’Brien as a goalkeeper. To play between the posts is not easy. Every mistake is instantly seen. Bigger mistakes can be made further out the field, but they are often forgotten about or overlooked, but the Lismore Club Player makes playing between look so easy at times.

However, she is not the only fine keeper within the county. One of those hot on the heels of the Lismore player and one that will have eyes on the white number 1 shirt in the near future is Brianna O’Regan.

The De La Salle shot stopper is fast gaining a reputation for herself and will be around for sometime to come. And having players challenging hard for a position like in goal can only be good for Waterford in the long term.

In front of her team Captain Laoibhse Dunbar from Saint Anne’s flanked by the Lismore pair of Sarah Coughlan and Sarah Geoghegan make up a water tight full back line. Further out the field the Waterford half back line, often the most crucial in any sector of the field had Cappoquin’s Roisin Cahillane play between Courtney Healy of De La Salle and Bronwyn Grace from Saint Anne’s in a teak like unit.

In the middle of the field there was the experienced duo of Iona Heffernan from Ferrybank and Lorraine Bray from the Cappoquin Club link up together. These are two players that we could well see more of in the near future with the Cappoquin Club player playing in a number of National League Games for the county over the past two years and is a player that is be looked out for in the coming years.

In attack, there was an all West Waterford (even if correctly no such divides occur in Camogie or Ladies football for that matter) half forward line, made up of Jessica Glavin, Caoimhe McGrath and Joanna Houlihan.

Jessica Glavin from the Cappoquin Club hit Waterford’s third goal in their 4-6 to 0-2 victory just before the break. Caoimhe McGrath from the Brickeys scored two points in the course of the game, while Joanna Houlihan who is having a twelve months to remember, having won a County Senior League, a County Senior Championship, a Munster Intermediate Club Championship, an All-Ireland Intermediate Club Championship, A Munster Intermediate Inter County and now an All-Ireland Minor ‘B’ Camogie medal while she did not get her name on the score sheet on the day, she played a major part in Waterford’s win and assisted in some of Waterford’s scores.

In the inside forward line, De La Salle’s Beth Carton made all the headlines striking 3-1, she was ably assisted by Molly Curran from the Brickeys and Orla Flynn from Clonea who assisted in helping Caoimhe McGrath in getting one of the scores of the game towards the end of the opening half.

Clare in the All-Ireland Championship played in Division One. They finished bottom of their group loosing heavily to Tipperary in their opening game and then to Galway by eight points before recording their best display a 3-4 to 2-7 draw with Wexford and then suffered another heavy loss this time to Kilkenny in their final league game.

Despite these losses, they will travel to The Ragg between Thurles and Borris-Ileagh on Saturday afternoon in a confident mood and will be anxious to bring Waterford down to earth with a bang after their All-Ireland victory last weekend.

They will be able to call on the likes of Lauren Solan, Aoife Keane, Ria Flannagan, Emma Kavanagh, Kate O’Gorman and Emma O’Connell for this game.

Camogie in the Banner County is on a high right now. Their senior side will be contesting the Division One league final on Sunday against Kilkenny at Thurles, a game which will be played as a curtain raiser to the National Hurling League Final between Tipperary and Kilkenny.

The County will be looking to get the weekend off to a good start with a win over Waterford. In addition to the players already mentioned they will be able to call upon several members of the Saint Flannan’s Senior Side that won the Munster ‘A’ Colleges Camogie title earlier this year where they beat Laurel Hill College from Limerick and also from the Junior Saint Flannan’s side which lost the Munster Final to Charleville also earlier this year.

The ‘Three Wise Men’ over Waterford Shane ‘Shiner’ Ahearne, Dan Geoghegan and Maurice Cahalane are unlikely to make many changes to the side that won last weekend’s All-Ireland Final. Even if change at times can spruce things up, if a thing is not broken then why try and fix it.

If changes are to be made, then the selectors have plenty of options open to them. Catherine Kelly and Sibhel Harney are both from the Saint Anne’s Club, Dawn Power and Taylor Murray are members of the Dungarvan Club, Sarah Judge and Doireann Flynn come from the Gaultier Club, Niamh Ahearne from Ferrybank, Elizabeth McGrath from Butlerstown/Tramore, Hayley Cox from De La Salle, Emily White from Portlaw, as well as the quartet of Hannah Murphy-Nix, Cadhla McGrath, Rachel Donnelly and Catherine Hahessey from the Brickeys all started as subs last weekend and will be more than ready to come into the team and do a job for the side if asked.

Both sides will be looking to win this game. Clare as pointed out will want to begin the weekend with a win; Waterford will want to back up last weekend’s great win with another. But only one side can win.

On Saturday evening, after an hour’s camogie, the winner’s trophy will head in one of two directions, one towards Nenagh, the other towards Thurles.

Clare may have played at a higher standard in the recent All-Ireland Championship which will have benefited the players game, even if they did not win any game, but Waterford are on a high now and the momentum gained last weekend should see them through in this game.

However complacency will have to guarded against because as we have seen before when a team are on a high, there is nothing the opposition would like to do more than to bring them down a peg or two.