Deise Seek Third Under 16 All-Ireland Title

Don’t let anyone tell you that these are not good times for Camogie in Waterford.

With a few years now some good work is being put in and it’s beginning to pay off.

In the last few years we have seen Gailltir and De La Salle put together excellent under 14 teams who have competed well at Féile na Gael.

The Barony Club in particular deserve special mention, as they won two Division Two Feile County and National titles in a row, before they won a Division One title this summer.

The county in the last few years have put together some very good under 14 Development squads and in the last three years they have returned home as their Divisional Champions.

This work is carrying forward to under 16 level. Waterford have reached the last two All-Ireland ‘B’ Finals to be played, loosing out to Cork in 2013 and beating Derry in the final.

Last year with a side made up almost entirely of players from those under 16 teams helped the County win a first ever Minor ‘B’ title last year, and this year with many of that side still available, Waterford competed well in the Minor ‘A’ Championship.

Some of the players in these teams have made their way into the counties Intermediate panel this year under Sean Fleming who worked with many of the underage teams in recent years and on September 13 will run onto Croke Park for an Intermediate All-Ireland Final against Kildare.

I know, don’t tell me, but I have left something out.

This coming Sunday morning, for the third year in a row, Waterford will travel up the country to take part in an All-Ireland ‘B’ Final.

Nenagh is the venue this year and Dublin will provide the opposition for a Waterford side who have some of last years panel still involved.

Waterford secured only their second title at this level twelve months ago but they will know that to win a third, they first have to beat what is an excellent Dublin side.

The players involved in this years panel will go into the game confident that they can beat Dublin.

They also go into the game knowing that when Waterford take to the field in Croke Park in just over two weeks time, that many of that panel will have Under 16 All-Ireland medals in their collection and those involved this year will be hoping to do in the very near future do what those that have done before them have done and become an essential part of the County Intermediate Set up, which hopefully will become the Senior set up from next year on.

Both sides go into Sunday’s game with a string of impressive results behind them.

Dublin’s run to this Sunday’s All-Ireland Final; began back in mid July when they beat Clare 3-13 to 3-7 at Ogonnelloe. This was followed up with a 1-8 to 0-9 win over Antrim at Blakestown before they lost on the road 2-8 to 0-10 against Waterford at Walsh Park. But they got back to winning ways in their final game in the league section of the competition when they beat Cork 3-13 to 1-3 again at Blakestown, a win that secured their semi final spot against last years beaten finalists Derry.

Waterford’s path to the semi finals began earlier in the month of July.

The reigning champions made their way to Blakestown in Dublin where they had a narrow 2-11 to 3-7 win over Antrim.  This was followed up with a hard fought 0-9 to 0-9 draw with Cork at the Cork Camogie Grounds, before they had another narrow 1-9 to 1-8 win over Clare at Ogonnelloe. Waterford’s final game in the league section of the competition was another close hard fought 2-8 to 0-10 win over this weekend’s opponents in Walsh Park.

In the two sides respective semi finals recently, Dublin had a 3-12 to 4-3 win over Derry at Drogheda while Waterford had a brilliant 4-13 to 0-8 win over Meath.

This may well be Dublin’s second string side but it is still one to be reckoned with.

In the likes of Zoe Couch, Chloe Mullen, Caoimhe Hughes, Aoife Farrell, Emily Browne, Laura Morgan, Emma O’Byrne, Aoife Dillon, Megan Thomas, Nicole Malcolmson, Niamh Mulroney, Rebecca Lewis, Ciara Byrne and Aisling Andrews the Dubs have some excellent players.

Waterford for their part also has some excellent players.

The Waterford management team are likely to give a vote of confidence to the side that beat Meath so comprehensively in the semi finals at Athy.

That should mean that Ciara Jackman will start between the posts, with Sinead Cunningham, team captain Taylor Healy and Clodagh Curran forming the full back line with Aisling Baumann, Colette Hogan and Clare Griffin directly in front of them.

In the middle of the field Katie Lynch and Niamh Murphy who has impressed with her shooting all year could get the nod while in attack the half forward line should consist of Faye Curley who hit four points against Meath, Anne Corcoran who hit another four points and Chloe Dempsey.

The full forward line could well see Saoirse English and Sally Kiely start in the corner forward positions while Kaiesha Tobin put in a player of the Match performance against Meath hitting 4-4 and should she end up on the winning team this weekend she will be one of a number of players who have won Under 16 Camogie and Ladies Football medals this summer.

No team is complete without back up and strong replacements in the modern game are a must as the game is no longer a 15 person game.

In Sadie Mai Rowe, Darina Shanley, Muireann Cuddihy, Katie Ryan, Grainne Heffernan, Heather Hayes, Lauryn Foran and Clodagh Power Waterford have some good replacements to call upon.

Normally on here, when two sides meet in close proximity I have a tendency to go for the team that lost the first day to win the second day.

Is this bad news so for Waterford?

The answer is no. I believe that this is a hungry Waterford side and they will have seen the way that Waterford’s intermediate team fought back from nine points down last week against Meath in their semi final. This Waterford side will want to show that they are just as good and will want to show that players from this side just like players from last years side are good enough to make a giant leap and join the highest ranking inter county side in the county in the next year or two.

Waterford in the group stages of the league section of the competition won three of their games by a very small margin.

The margin of victory is not always important. The important thing is the win. This present Waterford side will have gained confidence from every win achieved so far. They will know that they need just one more win to have an All-Ireland Medal in their collection of medals for the years ahead. Will they do this? I believe they will.