Waterford Minor and Intermediate teams look for wins this weekend

It’s a big weekend for Camogie in Waterford.

In the last two weekends, two of the counties inter county sides were in action in the Munster Championship. The Minor’s two weeks ago lost to Cork at Fraher Field and last weekend in Ballybrown, defeat again was Waterford’s lot against Limerick in the under 16 championship.

However, this weekend the ‘real’ serious stuff starts. The county minors are in action against Offaly in the All-Ireland Minor ‘A’ Championship on Saturday afternoon at Belmont while the counties Intermediate side take on Tipperary in the first round of the Daily Star National League at Carriganore on Sunday afternoon.

The minors under the guidance of Joey Carton, Don McMahon and Maurice Kelleher head to play Offaly after spending the last number of weeks and months preparing for the game.

They will have left no stone unturned in a bid to be ready for this game.

They had a good showing from their charges two weeks ago in the Munster Championship against Cork, even if defeat was their lot on the day.

They can take something from the fact that two years ago the side played the rebels in the Under 16 B Final and on that day again defeat was their lot. It must be remembered that on that day it was Cork’s second team that Waterford played on two weeks ago it was Cork’s strongest side after Waterford opted to move up a grade for this year.

Offaly two years ago played in the ‘A’ grade in the All-Ireland under 16 championship and along the way they played Cork’s ‘A’ side and only lost on the day by two points, so going on that game and the recent game in Fraher Field Waterford will be expecting a tough battle at Belmont.

The Midlanders have some very good players which they can call upon for this game including the likes of Gillian Kirwan, Mairead Jennings, Caitlin Fitzgerald, Sarah Harding, Róisín Egan and Sarah Walsh.

Some great work is been done in Waterford in the last few years, and it is great to see this paying off now with Waterford taking part in an ‘A’ grade competition.

The team for Saturday is unlikely to show many changes to the team that played Cork recently.

That will mean that outstanding prospects like Brianna O’Regan will continue in goals, Róisín Cahillane will be at full back, in front of her Courtney Healy, Iona Heffernan and Saoirse Bonner.

In the middle of the field Megan Dunford and Caoimhe McGrath could well get the nod to start there again while in attack Dawn Power, Kate McMahon, Molly Curran, Niamh Ahearne, Beth Carton and Aisling Power will all be in contention once more for a place in the team from the start.

Waterford will know the step up from ‘B’ grade camogie at under 16 to ‘A’ grade in minor is a big one, but one that they are capable of negotiating.

On Sunday it’s the turn of the Intermediates to have their first competitive outing of the year when they play Tipperary at the WIT Campus in Carriganore.

Waterford this year is under new management this year. Sean Fleming who has worked with the different underage teams and as development officer on the County Board of the past four or five years has taken over from Niall O’Donnell as manager.  

He will have working with him former Waterford senior hurling selector Brother Phil Ryan and Chris Dempsey who is regarded as one of the up and coming coaches within the game.

The new management team will be short a number of regulars over the years for this game.

Karen Kelly, Mairead Murphy and Pauline Cunningham after giving many years of outstanding and unselfish service to the county have decided to retire and the three will be a big loss to the panel in 2015.

Also missing will be the Lismore players in the panel as they prepare for their All-Ireland Final with Piltown next weekend, while there are doubts also about the availability of Jenny McCarthy and Niamh Rockett.

Tipperary will send a strong team to the venue on the outskirts of Waterford city for this game, but Waterford will be somewhat thankful with so many missing for the game it is a second string side from the Premier County that they are playing. If they were playing a first string selection from any county, the task would be much tougher.

Although Waterford will be short for this game, new manager Sean Fleming will be able to call upon a strong panel of players.

Players from Saint Anne’s, Gailltir, Cappoquin and An Rinn may well make up the bulk of the panel for this weekend, but some players from the newer clubs that have been formed in the city and county over the past number of years could also get a run out here, many of whom have come from successful under 16 and minor teams over the past two or three years.

While Waterford will be somewhat depleted, the players that will come in and get their chance on the day will see this as a chance to put in a good performance and stake a place for themselves in the team for the remainder of the year.

This is a game where Waterford will be hoping to win the full two points on offer to the winner in the league table. The winning margin will not be all that important.