Déise Ladies In With a Big Chance of Causing a Shock

If over the past seven years you are following what I have to say on here, or again when I preview games for the Munster Express, you will be aware that I am saying that progress is being made in the world of Camogie with a number of years now. This progress has come over time and not necessarily over night which might be a good thing and a better way for it to happen in the longer term.

If anyone wants proof of this progress you have to remember that just four years ago Waterford’s most senior team were playing in the Intermediate Grade and four years before this Waterford’s most senior adult team were playing in the Junior Grade on the inter county scene.

This coming Saturday for the second year in a row, Waterford under the guidance of Cappoquin Club man Donal O’Rourke have reached the All-Ireland Quarter Final for the second year in a row, something that is no fluke.

12 months ago Waterford lost out to a good Tipperary side in the new Pairc Ui Chaoimh and this Saturday afternoon Donal O’Rourke’s side face an even more difficult clash when they take on Galway in the second of this year’s quarter finals at Semple Stadium in Thurles.

The two sides met in last year’s championship in Waterford’s first game in the group stages at Kenny Park in Athenry where a very strong home side ran out convincing winners on a 4-12 to 0-8 score line.

Most sides could well have thrown in the towel after such a defeat, but I have a recollection of last year’s team captain Shauna Kiernan speaking on the Sunday Game in a roundup of the weekends game and hearing the Lismore club woman say “this is not the end, it’s only the beginning”.

Any side that shows at attitude like this only deserves things to get better for them, and after that defeat things did get better, and this year with many of the panel having the experience of last year behind them, with some young players brought into the side, with Trish Jackman coming back into the panel after a few years away as she was studying in the UK, and with the management team sticking to what they feel is their strongest XV instead of chopping and changing as they did last year in a bid to find that best XV, Waterford are deservedly back in the last six of the competition.

You have to feel that they have an even stronger chance of reaching the last four than they did last year, even if they are up against a strong Galway side who have already won the National League this year beating a strong Kilkenny side in the final at Croke Park, a win that will make the Tribes Ladies favourites to advance in the eyes of many pundits ahead of this game.

If you follow the game of Camogie closely it might be hard to argue against those that are predicting that Galway will overcome the challenge of Waterford this Saturday evening.

Take a look at the Galway team and you see the class that there is within it. Players like Noreen Coen, Ailish O’Reilly, Niamh Kilkenny, Carrie Dolan and Aoife Donohue to name but five are attackers that would walk onto most if not all inter county games.

Further back the field you have the likes of Sarah Healy in goal and the likes of Sarah Dervan, Heather Cooney, Tara Kenny, Emma Helebert and Anne Marie Starr in the defensive and mid field positions. Put them all together and you have a fine team.

But it would be foolish for those outside of the Déise County to think that this is a game all about just one team. This Waterford side are here very much on merit.

Back in 1997 the Waterford Senior Ladies Football team were in the news. When Referee Finbarr find eight seconds short of 12 minutes added time at the end of the hour in that year’s All-Ireland Ladies Football final where Monaghan ran out winners on a 2-15 to 1-16 score line. Waterford were correctly furious with the time added on as most people felt that had half of that time was added it would be generous.

Twelve months later the same two counties were back in the final and this time the outcome was reversed and there was no issues with the time keeping as the Ladies Football Association took time keeping out of the hands of the referee, bringing in a countdown clock, something that is used in all big championship games since then very successfully and there is some that suggest that the G.A.A. should do the same in the men’s game sooner rather than later.

Earlier this year it was the Waterford Senior Camogie team that was in the news. Their last game in the group stages was to be against All-Ireland Champions Cork. The game was to be played on a Saturday, but Cork had two players down to play Ladies Football the same day, someone decided to put the Camogie game back 24 hours to accommodate the Rebellettes duel players, despite the fact that just a week earlier Waterford’s duel player Caoimhe McGrath had to make a call as to which game she wanted to play when the Camogie team were down to play Clare and the Ladies Footballers were down to play Dublin on the same day.

When the game was put back it meant that Waterford were going to be without Trish Jackman who is playing a huge part with Waterford in this year’s championship as she had booked a flight back to the UK where she lives and works on the Sunday morning, something that could had cost Waterford had they not qualified for this Saturday’s game by beating Clare a week earlier.

The Waterford panel correctly made a big deal about this and it is good to see that the Camogie Association have agreed to meet with members of the Waterford panel who are backed by the Women’s Gaelic Players Association (W.G.P.A.) after the championship and hopefully the end result of these talks with me more professionalism with it comes to staging games, with dates and venues clearly publicised not just days in advance of a game going forward, but weeks and maybe also an agreement between the Camogie Association and the Ladies Football Association so that games are not played on the same day.

As pointed out already Waterford are in this game very much on merit. The Déise Ladies first game was to be against Tipperary at The Ragg. Waterford were winning this game with normal time almost up but the game was not finished as a Tipperary player picked up a serious head injury and when there was a delay in an Ambulance arriving at the ground the referee decided to call off the game.

Waterford’s first completed game was against a fancied Dublin side at Walsh Park where the home side ran out winners 1-11 to 1-5. The re-arranged game against Tipperary was next up, played at neutral Nowlan Park. Waterford again put it up to the Premier Ladies but in the end the old adage that goals win games proved through as Tipperary ran out winners on a 4-11 to 2-14 score line.

Waterford got back to winning ways with wins over Meath at Navan (5-9 to 0-11) and Clare (2-10 to 0-12) at Walsh Park which secured Donal O’Rourke’s side place in the knockout stages of the competition for the second year in a row, before they played Cork in the last game of the round robin section of the competition where the visitors ran out winners 2-10 to 0-7 at the Keane’s Road venue.

If Waterford were to field along similar lines to recent games it could well mean that Brianna O’Regan will start in goal with Iona Heffernan directly in front of her. Kate Lynch, Sibeal Harney and Mairead Power will fight it out for the two corner back positions with Caoimhe McGrath, Shona Curran and Lorraine Bray forming a teak like centre back line.

The middle of the field could well see a mix of youth and experience. Orla Hickey is making a name for herself with a string of strong performances in the last year or two and she is set to be partnered by the vastly experienced Emma Hannon.

The Waterford half forward line could well see Áine Lyng, Beth Carton and Niamh Rockett combine. If this is the half forward line chosen by the Waterford management team and on the day it clicks as supporters know it can, it could well prove to be the winning of the game.

Sarah Lacey is in her first year playing at this level and has made a huge name for herself with a string of fine performances and chipping in with some fine scores along the way. She is almost certain to start in the Waterford full forward line, but who will be there alongside the young Dungarvan player.

A number of options are open to Donal O’Rourke and his selectors including Aisling Power, Fiona Morrissey, Annie Fitzgerald, Clodagh Carroll, Clara Griffin, while other options might be to bring someone like Orla Hickey or Shona Curran into attack, moving Lorraine Bray into the middle of the field and bringing the likes of Claire Whyte or Aoife Landers into the defensive positions that they would leave void.

Neutrals will tell us that Galway will go into this game as favourites, but many neutrals would love to see the so called underdog pull off a big shock in this game.

It is only a matter of time before Waterford pull off that big scalp and when this happens plenty of people will be talking about this team.

This is a Waterford team that are steadily getting more and more support to their games and it would be fantastic to think that when Niamh Rockett leads the team out from under the Old Stand in Thurles sometime before 7pm on Saturday evening that they will get the biggest roar they have got since Caithriona McGlone lead her county up the steps of the Hogan stand back in September 2015 and lofted the Jack McGrath Cup in the air after Waterford beat Kildare 2-9 to 1-5.

Will Waterford get that first major win in this game? I for one would not be surprised if they did.