Gailltir Begin Search For Fourth Munster Title

 

There can be no disputing that Gailltir are one of the best club sides in the country in the last number of years. Numerous underage titles have made their way to the Barony in the last decade while the clubs senior team have won four county titles in five years, won three Munster Finals in the last four years and appeared at Croke Park on All-Ireland Club final day in the last two final’s day.

Having beaten Saint Anne’s in one of the most exciting finals played in the Déise County in a long numbers of years, they now represent the County against the best that other counties have to offer and will be looking to retain their Munster and All-Ireland titles in the coming weeks.

There are some that would like to see the Waterford senior champions play against the senior champions of other counties, but the rules are what they are and so this coming Sunday Gailltir are in Munster Intermediate Club championship against the Intermediate champions from Cork – Enniskeane.

Enniskeane side will travel from West Cork to Waterford for this game, and while they played at a grade lower than Gailltir in their County Championship, there is no way that Gailltir will be under estimating their opponents.

The appeared in last year’s County Intermediate Final where they lost out to Newcestown whom Gailltir beat in a Munster Semi final last October.

Enniskeane while they played at a grade lower than what Gailltir did in the two respective county championships should not be under estimated. They have learned a great deal from last year’s defeat to Newcestown.

They have used almost the same 15 players throughout the Club Championship to date but there has been some moving of players amongst positions as they have progressed and looked to be a stronger unit as a result.

Orla Cronin is without doubt the sides biggest star and is likely to start in the half forward line. She hit 13 points for her side in their 1-16 to 2-8 win over Aghabullogue in the County Final recently, seven points of which came from open play and is clearly a player that the Gailltir players will have to keep a close eye on.

But she is not the sides only attacking option from the centre of the field up as in Daire O’Brien and Laura Mannix who is the likely centre field pairing, Tara Sheehan and Siobhan O’Driscoll, sixteen year old Deirdre Browne, Sinead Hurley and Eimear O’Brien are all players that know where the posts are.

Kate Corcoran will start between the posts with Louise Duggan, Celine Nyhan, Kellie Scannell, Emma O’Driscoll, Danielle Carroll and Aisling O’Driscoll in defence. However the fact that this sextet of players have moved around so much while still looking strong it might suggest that the teams management do not know their strongest position, something that Gailltir might take advantage of.

Gailltir in their exciting County Final win over Saint Anne’s recently in Walsh Park had 12 of the side involved that started against Saint Rynagh’s at Croke Park last March and they will be expected to line out in a similar manner this time.

Ciara Jackman is one of the best goalkeepers in the country. In front of her Margo Heffernan is a vastly experienced player and could well have Emily O’Mahony and Sorcha Cantwell either side of her.

If Gailltir are to advance from this game they will need to be very strong in the half back line. Last time out Clodagh Carroll was at centre back with Leah Sheridan and Hannah Flynn either side of her. None of this sextet of players did anything wrong in their last game to lose out for this game but if the management team opts for changes they have the very experienced Emma Roche on the bench.

Kate Lynch and Shauna Fitzgerald is a very strong centre field pairing, while in attack Anne Corcoran, Ciara O’Sullivan and Una Jackman the heroine of the Croke Park win back in March likely to start on the ’50 while the inside forward like of Emer Walsh and the Fitzgerald cousin’s Annie and Aoife are more than capable of causing trouble for any back line.

If the Gailltir management team want to make changes in attack they have the likes of Alannah O’Sullivan a young player with a huge future ahead of her and Róisín Flood that they can call upon, while if the management team want to crowd their defence they could also include bring in Claire Dunne, a player that has also done it all in the past.

This is one of those games that could go right to the wire and if it does, then Gailltir’s experience of recent years is bound to tell.