Despite a ten point defeat to a strong Carlow side the
Waterford management team will take a great deal of encouragement from the
opening game in this year’s at Kill on Saturday afternoon last.
Carlow will play in the intermediate grade of this
year’s All-Ireland Championship and will be one of the teams favoured to do
well in the competition. They played together in the last year’s league, a
competition that Waterford did not take part in, and also took part in the
Intermediate Championship, a competition Waterford were to take part in but
were not allowed to do so when it was decided that Counties could only field
one team after the arrival of Covid-19 into Ireland which delayed the
championships.
Waterford manager Shane Dunphy who has worked with
the Waterford senior teams in recent years when Donal O’Rourke was in charge of
the team has with his management team managed to put together a useful side for
this year’s competition. Players like Sally Kelly, Ciara Jackman, Niamh
Ahearne, Sadi Mai Rowe and Niamh Murphy to name but a few have been part of the
senior set up in recent years and will bring much experience as a result into
this panel, while the likes of Hannah Flynn, Leah Sheridan, Emer Walsh as well
as some of the subs named for Saturday’s game all have All-Ireland Club medals
won with Gaultier in March 2020 while the likes of Isabella Markievich and
Ellen Curran were part of a successful Lismore side as younger members of the
panel a few years back.
Waterford worked hard in the first half with
goalkeeper Sally Kelly and Ciara Jackman highly impressive throughout the
opening half for the Déise Ladies. When the ball went to the other end of the
field lady luck was not with the Waterford attackers who turned around trailing
0-9 to 0-2, but in the second half Waterford were an even better side but the
concession of a string of frees would be a telling factor in the end.
Top scorer Eleanor Tracey opened the scoring on five
minutes when she put over a 45 after the Waterford defence had done well to
close down a good goal scoring chance.
Niamh Murphy cancelled out the Ballinkillen Club
players opening score but the visitors went back in front on nine minutes when
Ciara Quirke pointed after a quick restart after Waterford’s opening score and
the visitors lead throughout after this.
Sally Kelly in the Waterford goal made an excellent
save from Ciara Quirke deflecting the sliotar out for a 45 from which Eleanor
Tracey made no mistake. Caoimhe Coady pointed on 13 minutes but her effort
needed a deflection from the Waterford net minder to make sure it did not go
under the crossbar.
Leading 0-4 to 0-1 at the water break Carlow
continued to exert the most pressure in the second quarter. Rachel Sawyer and
Ciara Jackman swapped scores, the latter coming from a huge free on the half
way line. Eleanor Tracey would add four more scores before the break all from
placed balls to give her side a 0-9 to 0-2 at the break, but the first of these
needed both the referee and the linesman to make up the mind of the umpire with
the white flag as both umpires at the dressing room end of the ground found
themselves poorly placed as the ball came in from a very tight angle.
Waterford started the second half brightly as Niamh
Murphy and Saoirse O’Brien hit early scores to leave five between the
sides. Rachel Sawyer and Eleanor Tracey
however cancelled out these scores by the eight minute of the second half.
Ciara Jackman and Eleanor Tracey swapped scores from
placed balls but Carlow would go into the water break midway through the second
half with a 0-13 to 0-5 advantage showing in the referee’s notebook when Eve
Sinnott got her name on the score sheet.
Scores in the final quarter were hard won by both
sides. Having only a couple of weeks together collectively and playing the
opening minutes of the second half in heavy rain began to took its toll on the
players on both sides.
Carlow subs Emma Coogan and Aoife Carroll extended
the visitors lead to nine points. Ciara Jackman with her first from play and
Róisín Kirwan kept the referee ticking off in his notebook as time began to run
down.
Carlow however were not finished yet and in the
fourth minute of time added on at the end of the sixty minutes Ali Cushen set
an unstoppable shot past Sally Kiely with the last attack of the game.
Both of these sides have Limerick and Clare to play
in the round robin section of the competition but both will know that if they
can replicate what they served up here they stand an excellent chance of
reaching the knockout stages of this year’s competition.
Waterford: Sally Kelly; Isabella
Markievich, Sadi Mai Rowe, Hannah Flynn; Ellen Curran, Ciara Jackman, Leah
Sheridan; Caroline Farrelly, Niamh Ahearne; Emer Walsh, Sarah Morrissey,
Heather Hayes; Niamh Murphy, Saoirse O’Brien, Abbie Dunphy.
Subs: Ciara Sheahan for Heather
Hayes, Róisín Kirwan for Saoirse O’Brien, Holly Ryan for Niamh Murphy, Valerie
O’Brien for Niamh Ahearne.
Scorers: Ciara Jackman 0-3 (2f),
Niamh Murphy 0-2 (2f), Saoirse O’Brien, Abbie Dunphy, Róisín Kirwan 0-1 each.
Carlow: Chantelle Kelly; Rachel
Breen, Niamh Canavan, Shannon Kavanagh; Emma Cody, Mairead O’Shea, Kate Nolan;
Eleanor Tracey, Ciara Kavanagh; Caoimhe Coady, Rachel Sawyer, Anna Breen; Eve
Sinnott, Ciara Quirke, Catherine Kavanagh.
Subs: Ali Cushen for Catherine
Kavanagh, Aoife Carroll for Caoimhe Coady
Scorers: Eleanor Tracey 0-8 (6f, 2
’45), Ali Cushen 1-0, Rachel Sawyer 0-2, Ciara Quirke, Caoimhe Coady, Eve
Sinnott, Emma Coogan, Aoife Carroll 0-1 each.
Referee: Kevin O’Brien
(Limerick).
