Camogie in Waterford during 2014 - Part 2

It’s amazing what one favourable result can do for a club or county.

A team could have success at a young level and it could well spur those to achieve even greater things in the years ahead.

Success could come at adult level and it could spur on younger players who having seen what was achieved will say to themselves, well if they can achieve this or that, well then there is no reason as to why I cant.

To think back to 2003 might seem a long time for some.

Waterford’s under 16 team reached the All-Ireland final that year playing Armagh at Portlaoise.  Waterford captained by Laura Buckley did not just win the game they won it with ease on a 6-11 to 1-4 score line.

In the years that followed several members of the panel that won that final were involved in different Waterford teams which achieved different things at adult levels.

Some were involved in one, two or all three Junior All-Ireland finals in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Some were involved in Waterford teams which reached All-Ireland Intermediate semi finals in 2012, 2013 and 2014. Some were also involved with the Waterford intermediate team that won the Munster final in 2013.

To see what these teams achieved even if results did not always go the way of Waterford, it inspired another generation of players to take up the game and to set targets, trying to replicate what those had done before them was a minimum target.

One set of players that would have had such targets are the players that made up this years Minor panel.

Many of the team were involved in the team for a year or two before 2014.

A lot of the panel were involved in the Under 16 team that won a Munster ‘B’ Final in 2013 against Cork but would loose to the same opposition in the All-Ireland Final. And many of the panel would still be under 16 again in 2014 where they would repeat and better what they did 12 months earlier but more about that a little later.

With such a young panel, where the real hopes for much of the panel would be a year or two from 2014 would it be unfair to expect anything major to happen in 2014, or would it.

When it comes to trying to find a formula to run a championship, it’s hard to find a formula that will be accepted by everyone.

If asked I tend to favour a knockout championship. Others say you need one where players get enough games to develop as players. To get this you can have a league style championship or the old back door system.

The Minor ‘B’ Championship this year was run as a league, with the top two teams in both groups advancing to the semi finals.

The seven competing teams were split one group of four, the other of three.

Antrim, Down and Kildare were drawn in one group, Derry, Waterford, Westmeath and Dublin in the other. And when Westmeath withdrew from the competition before it began, it left two groups of three, meaning all sides had two games, which if you are looking for games to develop players its hardly the ideal situation. Could the competition be revised after Westmeath withdrew, putting all teams into one group and leaving them play off with the top four teams advancing to the semi finals? Should it have happened is for others to decide. It would be interesting to find out the opinions of the respective county boards and the players. One thing it would have done is give each county five games instead of two which if its games you are looking for the idea would have to be at least considered.

Waterford under the guidance of former Inter county hurler Shane Ahearne who was over the under 16’s in 2013 were to begin the campaign with a game to Westmeath but after they withdrew they had to wait for a game against Dublin in round two get the year underway.

The ‘Dubs’ had played and lost to Derry in round 1 on a 3-7 to 2-4 score line so if they were to loose again they were out of the championship. They did loose to Waterford over Saint Patrick’s weekend on a 2-11 to 2-6 score line.

That win for Waterford in round two coupled with Derry’s win over the same opposition in the opening round of fixtures meant that both sides were through to the All-Ireland semi final, the only thing to be decided when they clashed in round three was to see who would top the group and who would finish second.

The Northerners won the game 3-7 to 4-3 but Waterford would not be too put out by the loss.

In the opposite group, things proved to be a very tight affair as Antrim, Down and Kildare all recorded one win each in their two games meaning that a series of play-offs would have to be played to decide which of the two advanced to the semi finals and meet Derry and Waterford.

Antrim were the side to miss out. Down won the group and so were paired with Waterford while Kildare were drawn against Derry.

Both semi finals proved to be one way battles as Derry ran out convincing 6-6 to 1-6 winners over Kildare while Waterford had an impressive 2-15 to 2-5 win over Down at Blakestown in Dublin.

Despite the lack of games heading into the All-Ireland final Waterford were experienced outfits.

Most of side (17 of the panel as far as I can remember) would have learned a lot from winning the Munster Final of twelve months earlier and more over from the defeat in the All-Ireland Final.

Players like Beth Carton, Courtney Healy and Brianna O’Regan had being part of a Waterford Presentation College side that reached a Junior All-Ireland Final, Johanna Houlihan was part of the Lismore that had won an All-Ireland Club final, Labhaoise Dunbar, the team captain was part of an excellent Saint Anne’s club side, Lorraine Bray had played Intermediate for the county while Sara Judge was an up an coming player with an emerging Gailltir Club side.

I keep saying this as regular readers know, but for the benefit of any new readers on here, I always have this theory that when two sides clash in close proximity, the team that looses out the first day often have an advantage the second day out as the winners of the first game often have this psychological thing telling that that because they won the first day they will win the second day, but its often the reverse that happens as the looser the first day will often learn from mistakes.

Heading into the game with Derry, I was confident Waterford would win and was proved right.

Waterford on the day were magnificent, winning the game 4-6 to 0-2.

From start to finish, Waterford were brilliant.

Brianna O’Regan between the posts is as good as you get anywhere and it is only a matter of time we see her play at the highest level. Against Derry she had a faultless performance.

The full back line of Sarah Coughlan, Labhaoise Dunbar and Sarah Geoghegan proved impossible to break down. Out in front of them Roisin Cahillane, Courtney Healy and Bronwyn Grace were equally as tough to break down.

In the middle of the field Iona Heffernan and Lorrain Bray from Ferrybank and Cappoquin worked like troopers linking between defence and attack.

In attack Waterford were magnificent.

All GAA Supports in Waterford at this stage should have heard of Beth Carton. She’s a player that has made a reputation for herself in recent year as a player who knows how to score when presented even with half a chance.

In this game she gave a typical performance hitting 3-1 of her sides 4-6. Jessica Glavin another up and coming player hit the fourth goal. Caoimhe McGrath an emerging duel player hit two points. Johanna Houlihan might not have scored on the day but she played a major roll in the win. She too is an emerging player who in the past year and a half won a County League Title, 2 county senior championships, 2 intermediate club championships, an All-Ireland Club championship, a Munster Intermediate Championship with Waterford and of course an All-Ireland Minor Championship.

Molly Curran and Orla Flynn also started on the day, while Catherine Kelly, Sibhel Harney, Dawn Power, Taylor Murray, Sarah Judge, Doireann Flynn, Niamh Ahearne, Elizabeth McGrath, Hayley Cox, Emily White, Hannah Murphy-Nix, Cadhla McGrath, Rachel Donnelly and Catherine Hahessey made up the remainder of the panel on the day.

Waterford were also involved in the Munster Shield Minor Championship this past year. In the semi final Waterford had a 3-4 to 0-8 win over Limerick but in the final against a Clare side that had competed in the ‘A’ All-Ireland Championship they faced strong opposition even if the young ladies from the Banner county finished bottom of the group loosing heavily to Tipperary in the opening game and then went on to loose to Galway, Wexford and Kilkenny.

Playing in the top flight helped Clare in this game as they ran out winners 4-12 to 0-7, but the Waterford players while they wont want to have lost the game they wont have been put out too much by the loss as the All-Ireland Championship was the premier competition the one that counted most.

Feile na Gael is a competition Waterford have done well in over the past few years.

For many years Lismore were the Waterford representatives at the annual festival of Hurling, Handball and Camogie and many of the players that represented the club and county at the competition over the years are now winning honours at a higher level.

Over the past few years the great work that got the ball rolling in Lismore when it comes to camogie in Waterford has been replicated in other clubs and now other clubs are moving nearer to the standards set by Lismore.

In the past three years, De La Salle and Gailltir have represented Waterford at Féile.

In 2012 De La Salle were beaten in the final of their division. Twelve months later Gailltir won the Division Two competition in Limerick and in 2014 both Gailltir and De La Salle represented Waterford at Féile.

Gailltir again competed in Division two while De La Salle competed in a division below.

Able to call upon 15 of the panel that took part in the 2013 competition, namely Hannah Flynn, Leah O Donoghue, Katie Judge, Shauna Fitzgerald, Aoife Fitzgerald, Emma Flynn, Clodagh Carroll, Ciara O’Sullivan, Ailish Doyle, Niamh Denn, Clodagh McGuire, Leah Sheridan, Kate Lynch, Annie Fitzgerald and Hannah McGuire, the young ladies were always in with a great chance of retaining the crown they won 12 months earlier.

This is exactly what they did and in what style they done it.

In the group stages of the competition, they beat St John’s 10-10 to no score, Ballinascreen 13-8 to no score and Kinnity 7-7 to 1-0 the only score to pass them in the group stages.

In the quarter finals the young Barony ladies had a 8-7 to no score win over Ballycastle, in the semi finals they had a much tougher game against Camross winning 2-3 to 0-1 and in the final they had another good win, beating Tullamore 3-4 to 1-1.

De La Salle’s trip to Féile proved to be equally as impressive.

The Gracedieu based club are an emerging club within the county and through hard work have helped develop some exciting young prospects who in the next year or two many are looking forward to see how they will develop once they begin to play in the adult competitions and on adult inter county teams.

In the group stages of the competition they beat Greenlough on the first day of the competition on a 4-9 to 0-0 score line but lost their two group stage games on Saturday morning to Glen 7-6 to 1-2 and against Drumraney on a 4-3 to 1-2 score line.

A third placed finish in the group stages gave De La Salle a Division three plate quarter final sport where they easily beat Castledowson from Derry on a score of 7-6 to 0-1 and in the semi final they accounted for Na Brid Óga from Mayo on a 2-3 to 1-4 score line.

This set them up for a final against Eglish/St Patrick’s from Tyrone at Garvaghey. De La Salle in the final continued a rood run of results in the knockout stages of the competition beating the Ulster side 5-5 to 0-2.

These results will have given the players on the two respective sides plenty of confidence going into the future.

It will be interesting to see in the coming years the players involved develop as players and win a place on different inter county teams.

The players that represented the two clubs at this years Féile na nGael were as follows:

Gailltir Panel: Alisha Flynn, Hannah Flynn, Leah O Donoghue, Katie Judge, Shauna Fitzgerald, Aoife Fitzgerald, Emma Flynn, Clodagh Carroll, Ciara O’Sullivan, Ailish Doyle, Niamh Denn, Treasa Coady, Jessica Flynn, Clodagh McGuire, Una O Brien, Laoise McLoughlin, Robin Whitty, Sally O Grady, Sorcha Cantwell, Leah Sheridan, Kate Lynch, Annie Fitzgerald, Hannah McGuire, Anna Mai Drohan.

De La Salle Panel : Toni Forristal, Sarah Ryan, Lucy Hogan, Saoirse Kinsella, Ruth Heery, Megan O Connor, Jade Phelan, Aisling Madigan, Clara Boland, Patricia Farrell, Zoe Fanning, Emer McGlynn, Sarah Hunt, Abby Flynn, Holly Ryan, Molly Griffin, Jill Phelan.

Staying with Féile na Gael Waterford had another representative at the competition this year.

Dungarvan’s Kaeisha Tobin took part in the skill’s competition and while she did not win the overall prize Kaeisha who is one of many rising duel stars when it comes to Camogie and Ladies Football in the county did herself, her club and the county proud with an excellent performance.

The Puc Fada in Camogie has come to mean one thing. Patricia Jackman over the past few years has become the undisputed queen of the long puck and 2014 proved to be no different.

The competition had to be re-arranged in 2014 having to be called off late in the day on its traditional date of the Saturday before the August Bank Holiday owing to inclement weather on the mountains which would have made it dangerous to run off the competition but when it did go ahead she again proved to be ahead of the rest of the field, but it proved to be a close call as the Gailltir sharp shooter completed the course in the same number of puck’s (29) as Catriona Daly from Galway and Martine McMahon from Limerick but she managed to put the ball sixty-two metres past the finish line compared to forty-seven for the Galway lady and fifteen for the Limerick lady with her last strike to win her sixth successive title. In three other times entering the Competition Patricia finished as runner up. Some record.

When it comes to Camogie men seldom make the headlines but in 2014 one Waterford man did as Tony Cummins who is involved with the Gailltir club going back to the late 1950’s when the club was formed was presented with one of a number of National Volunteer Awards presented to people involved in all sports in recognition for the work he has done for the Gailltir club and the Camogie Association down the years.

In the underage Club Championships, Cappoquin in a brilliant year for the club by the bend in the River Blackwater won the Minor ‘A’ Championship, beating Gailltir in the final.

The ‘B’ final was won by their neighbour’s up river – Lismore who also had a great year who beat Ferrybank, one of a number of clubs born in the city area in recent years and who where some great work is being done. Surly it is only a matter of time before the only club in Waterford North of the River Suir will become a force within the county such is the talent they have available to them.

In the under 16 championship, with the assistance of members of the County under 16 county team (which can be read about in the next part of the years review) and the Minor team which won All-Ireland finals, De La Salle were crowned champions beating Gailltir in the final.

The ‘B’ Championship was won by Lismore who beat Tramore/Butlerstown in the final while in the ‘C’ Final’s Saint Molleran’s were crowned champions after beating Modeligo.

It was no surprize to see Gaultier crowned Under 14 champions. Already reviewed is how they won back to back National Feile Titles. In the county final they beat Dungarvan and to win the right to represent Waterford at Féile they beat De La Salle in the County Féile Final. The Plate Feile Final was won by Dungarvan.

The County Under 14 ‘B’ Final was won by Tramore who beat Lismore while the ‘C’ Final was won by An Rinn who beat Butlerstown in the final.

The Under 12 competitions were run on a league basis with the top team after the final round of games being crowned champions. (There was no final).

In the ‘A’ Competition Gailltir were winners. Brickeys, Saint Anne’s Butlerstown and De La Salle also took part in this competition. The other two finals were won by clubs in the West of the county (I know, there is not West/East divide in Camogie and proper order), with the ‘B’ Championship going to Lismore, agus buaigh An Rinn Rionn C. In the ‘B’ Competition Portlaw, Abbeyside, Dungarvan, Clonea/St Molleran’s and Tramore also took part, while in the ‘C’ competition St. Annes had a second team involved (well done for giving everyone a chance to play), Cappoquin, Tallow, Roanmore and Ferrybank took part.