Waterford Ladies look for championship exit revenge with a league win over Fermanagh

Last September en-route to an All-Ireland Final appearance against Down in Croke Park at the end of September, Fermanagh Intermediate Ladies Football side had a 3-10 to 1-11 win over Waterford in the quarter final stages of the championship.

In the build up to the game, Fermanagh has played a number of games over a few weeks. Waterford had no competitive game in six weeks since they beat Limerick in the Munster Final at Rathmore.

While the long lay off for Waterford between games was not a help, there can be no disputing that Fermanagh with a late surge on the day proved to be the better of the two sides on the day and deserved their win.

In that All-Ireland Final, Fermanagh had a bad experience loosing heavily to Down, and earlier in the year, they were relegated from division two in the league after failing to win any of their seven games and finishing the campaign with a score difference of minus  one hundred and forty points.

They were due to play their first competitive game since that game last weekend when they were scheduled to play Tipperary, but the game was called off due to the weather.

Fermanagh would have liked to have had that game to go ahead. Even though the game with Down was five months earlier, leaving the players plenty of time to get the result out of the system, it was important that they got back playing as quickly as possible and to get a first win under their belts.

Fermanagh are a much better side that the 6-16 to 1-10 defeat would have suggested. Right throughout their team, there is some quality players to be found.

Shauna Murphy in goal, Kyla McManus at full back, the half back line of Marcella Monaghan, Tara Little and Danielle McGuire, the middle of the field pairing of Caroline Little a sister of Tara, and Aine McHugh, Aisling Moane at centre forward and the dangerous inside forward line of Sharon Little, Noelle Connolly and Martina McDonald are all quality players and will make life very difficult for Waterford.

Waterford last weekend opened their league campaign with a win over Wexford at Fraher Field.

When the two sides met at Grantstown twelve months ago, Waterford had a facile victory, but readers here last weekend were warned that a much tougher game was to be expected this year.

Wexford had reached and won the All-Ireland Junior Final last year. They finished the league strong. They played the three so called strongest sides in the league last year in their first three games loosing to Armagh, Waterford and Tipperary. After that they put a string of good results together, and went into the last round of games in with a chance of taking a spot in the semi finals if they beat Sligo and other results when their way. It was not to be for Wexford however as they failed to win in Sligo.

Waterford as well were going to be showing a different starting fifteen to which had started many games in previous years. New manager Pat Sullivan had brought in some new players that had played on some successful underage teams in recent years and these players needed time to settle into the team. Last weekend for these new players, the winning margin was not the most important issue. Recording a win was.

Much the same is going to apply this weekend.

Sometimes we might be forgiven for thinking that this is an aging Waterford team. Yes, there are players around with a number of years now, but we must remember that in the Ladies games players inter county career often begins much earlier than their male counterparts.

The experience of the likes of Karen and Michelle McGrath, Elaine Power, Hannah Landers, the Wall sisters and Michelle Ryan is going to prove to be important here.

Waterford has some exciting young players coming through. Players like Shauna Dunphy and Caoimhe McGrath who both started last week and who were involved last year is also going to be important.

Manager Pat Sullivan and his selectors when it comes to the remainder of the team will have to make some tough calls this weekend. Do they go with the likes of Megan Dunford, Emma Murray, Mary Kate Morrissey etc. as they did last weekend and who repaid the selectors with a good performance for the faith shown in them, or do they look to the more experienced heads in the panel like Nora Dunphy, Louise Ryan Aoife Landers etc. who already have experienced playing against tough opposition like Fermanagh in the past.

Fermanagh have the players to bounce back from the relegation and All-Ireland defeat which they suffered last year. However, Waterford often are very difficult to beat at Fraher Field.

Fermanagh may well travel down to the region on Saturday and stay over the night before the game. To travel down and to play the game on the same day is often not a reality.

Ahead of a big game however, a player may well to sleep in a bed that they are used to. Often travelling long distances and sleeping in beds you are not accustomed will mean that you are not going the rest you need ahead of the game.

Waterford gets the nod to win here, but it could well be tough.