Big Weekend For Déise Ladies

            A drive across County Waterford a few weeks back would have resulted in a driver or even a passenger seen the white and blue flag of Waterford flying high on most roads in the county outside houses and places of business. And rightly so, it has become a bit of the norm in recent years as the counties senior hurling team try and end a long famine and become the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Champions for the first time since 1959.

            Take a similar journey today, starting at the most northerly point and driving to the most southern tip of the county and from the furthest west part of the county to the most easterly point of the county and you are likely to find few if any flags flying.

            Each year once the county senior hurling exit the championship it seems to have become the norm to take down the flags and bunting, putting them away in safe keeping in the home that the following year will end better than the one we are currently in. But we often seem to forget that there is more than one team in Waterford that deserve our support in any way we can offer it.

            For many years come the Munster and All-Ireland Championship we hear caller after caller taking to the airwaves of WLR each claiming to be Waterford’s greatest supporter and complain how they might not be able to get tickets for a game, the All-Ireland Final last year a prime example.

            We have seen the same happen on people’s social media pages. Post after post coming up on our own pages each stakes claim that the author of the posting is a terrific Waterford supporter and claiming that they can’t tickets for a game, or complain about someone who may not go to as many hurling games as they do have got tickets and how they are finding it difficult to source tickets. The author of many postings that we often see often bitch about people jumping on the bandwagon when a team is doing well, or we read about how a player might be best suited to such a position without seeing them playing outside of the county team, and would be a natural in a position that they do not play in for the county.

            While there is little white and blue to be seen across the county this year as we head to the end of July, it might come as a surprise to some that this is a massive G.A.A. weekend in Waterford.

            Within 24 hours of each other this coming weekend, two of Waterford’s inter county teams could find themselves either in or out of the championship in which they are competing.

            On Saturday afternoon the Waterford Senior Ladies Football team make the trip to Birr to take on Galway in the second round of games in this year’s All-Ireland Football Championship, and a win is a must after they lost out to Westmeath at Nenagh last weekend.

            Anything other than a win for Pat Sullivan’s side will mean that they are as good as out of the championship. A draw would keep them in the championship for another week at least, but then they would need Westmeath to beat the newly crowned Connacht champions by more than two points when they clash.

            On Sunday afternoon the attention turns to Cusack Park in Ennis when Donal O’Rourke’s Senior Camogie Championship take on Clare in what is arguably the biggest game of Camogie any Waterford side has played in.

            This might seem a little harsh on some players who in the past would have helped Waterford win Junior or Intermediate All-Ireland Finals in recent years, but it is not intended this way. While it is always nice to win an All-Ireland in any grade or age group, all players want to compete against the top sides in the top division, and Waterford go into Sunday’s game in third place in the league table with three teams advancing to the knockout stages of the competition and Donal O’Rourke’s side will do this if they avoid defeat at Clare G.A.A. Headquarters.

            Westmeath in ways caused a shock last Saturday when they beat Waterford in Nenagh.

            The two sides had very contrasting league campaigns. The midlander’s only retained their Division one status for 2019 by beating a Kerry side who were in all sorts of problems in the first part of 2018 and who as a result found themselves relegated to Division two for next year’s        competition.

            The midlander’s went into last week’s game on the back of a heavy defeat to Dublin in the Leinster Final two weeks earlier, and would have wanted to get that loss out of their system as quickly as possible, something that they achieved.

            For much of that game the sides were even, but both sides did enjoy purple patch’s and in the Midlander’s purple patch they hit 1-3 in a row which helped them to a two point cushion at the break, and while Waterford would have a purple patch of their own in the second half, the Leinster side kicked the last score of the game to win the game by the minimum.

            Now it is Waterford’s turn to get that defeat out of their system. In fact Waterford have lost their last three competitive games, the division two league semi final against Cavan, the Munster Semi Final against Kerry and last week’s All-Ireland qualifier opener against Westmeath and another defeat this year would see the side crashing out of the championship for another year.

            Prior to last weekend’s game Waterford were nearly six weeks without a competitive outing, and sometimes a player like to play in competitive games as often as they can. It’s a well known fact that you can play as many in-house or challenge games as you like but there is nothing like a competitive game, and playing last weekend will stand to Waterford.

            The Westerners recently contested and won the Connacht Final beating a fancied Mayo side 0-17 to 1-15, and will know that a win here would see them advance to the All-Ireland Quarter finals for the second year in a row, where they would be hoping to go one step further than they did twelve months ago when they were heavily beaten by a Cork side who many were writing off after they lost to both Waterford and Kerry in the Round Robin section of the Munster Championship.

            This is a Galway side that Waterford will not be under estimating and will have to be at their very best to beat.

            Galway played in Division one of the National League where they reached the semi finals where they narrowly lost out to All-Ireland Champions Dublin (2-8 to 2-7) despite beating the side from the capital in the league section of the competition.

            The Galway management team have named a strong team to play Waterford and there is some fine player’s right throughout the side that Waterford will have to keep quiet.

            Captain Tracey Leonard has hit eleven points in her side’s last two competitive outings, six of which came from frees. Róisín Leonard, Mairead Seoighe, Olivia Divilly and Leanne Coen are other players that Waterford will have to keep an eye on over the course of this game.

            Waterford too have named a strong line up, and a look at the team would show that there is players missing who you would expect that would normally be in the starting line up. But keeping strong players in reserve and springing them into action is something that Pat Sullivan has done in his tenure as manager of this side and is likely to do the same here again, meaning that Waterford could well finish the game with a stronger side than which they started with. The trick might be however to bring the right player in at the right time.

            Nobody in the Waterford camp will need telling that this is going to be a huge game. The side from West of the Shannon will possibly go into the game as the clear favourites to pick up the three points on offer, but as we have seen time and time again, when this Waterford side is not expected to get a result they are more than capable of doing so.

            On Sunday in Ennis Waterford under the guidance of Donal O’Rourke will be hoping that an excellent year under the guidance of the Cappoquin Club man will go on for another while when they take on Clare in the last round of games in the round robin section of the championship.

            Waterford put up good showings against both Galway and Kilkenny in their opening games in this year’s championship but finished empty handed on both occasions, but last weekend on a scorched surface at Walsh Park they got the better of a Limerick side who had to win to keep their interest in the championship alive.

            That win will give Waterford a huge amount of confidence heading into this game, and they will know that if they avoid defeat they will reach the knockout stages of the senior championship for the first time. However if Clare were to win, they would advance to the knockout stages of the competition, while a share of the spoils would knockout the Banner ladies from the competition.

            Confidence in the home side will be somewhat down going into this game after they suffered a very heavy loss to Kilkenny last weekend. When Waterford played the same opposition a few weeks back at Walsh Park despite losing, Waterford really put it up to the League Champions, even finishing the game with fourteen players.   

            This is a Waterford side that are making progress each year since they won the Intermediate championship back in 2015, beating Kildare at Croke Park.

            A number of the players that helped Waterford win that day have since left the panel, but in their place has come some brilliant young players.

            This year under the guidance of Donal O’Rourke the side narrowly lost out on a place in the league semi finals when they drew with Limerick in their last game, a result which saw both sides finish level on points and it was the Treaty County side that advanced to a meeting with Cork by virtue of having a better score difference after the two sides finished with equal points on the league table.

            The side no doubt will be hoping not to lose out on a place in the knockout stages of a major competition in the one year and will be hoping that a large Waterford support will make their way to Ennis for this game and become Waterford’s sixteenth player.

            Clare has a very settled look to their team this year and should line out along familiar lines in this game.

            That will mean Lauren Solan starting in goal with Ciara Doyle, Clare Heir and Carol O’Leary in front of her, while the outside line of their defence could see Emma Kennedy, Orlaith Duggan and Laura McMahon link up.

            In the middle of the field Marie McGrath and Andrea O’Keeffe would be expected to link up, while the half forward line is expected to be Róisín Begley, Róisín McMahon and Chloe Morey with an inside forward line of Orla Devitt, Niamh O’Dea and Doireann Murphy.

            Waterford’s team is slightly harder to predict. Ciara Jackman will once more be between the posts, while the full back line could well be Kate Lynch, Iona Heffernan and Sibeal Harney, but Mairead Power could also come into contention.

            The half back line could see team captain Shauna Kiernan link up with Áine Lyng and Claire Whyte once more but another option in this line could well be Aoife Landers who came on as a sub in the win over Limerick.

            In the middle of the field Lorraine Bray and Niamh Rockett are a formidable outfit all year and there would appear to be little reason to split that pairing up at this stage.

            In attack, any of the six players that would be expected to start can play in most positions in the forward line, but it would be expected that Deirdre Fahy, Kaiesha Tobin Caithriona McGlone, Beth Carton, Fiona Morrissey and Annie Fitzgerald expected to start. Donal O’Rourke has the option of playing Niamh Rockett in attack and playing Aoife Landers in the middle of the field, while there are also options like Clara Griffin and Aisling Power available to him to play in attack to make up the starting fifteen.

            The two sides have already met this year when the two sides met at the WIT Arena in the league where the two sides finished all square. This time the Déise Ladies will be hoping for a much more favourable result in this game.

            A double win for Waterford is something that Waterford supporters would love to see happen this weekend. Will it happen? Let’s see.