WATERFORD FOOTBALLERS LOOK FOR SECOND WIN IN 12 MONTHS OVER CORK

Waterford’s quest to win back to back McGrath Cup competitions begins on Sunday afternoon next when they take on Cork at the An Rinn Club grounds in Ring.

Twelve months ago in winning the competition, Waterford pulled off a major shock when they beat Cork in the semi finals at Clashmore and that win against the odds will give the side plenty of confidence heading into this weekends game and the side sent out by Waterford Manager Tom McGlinchey will be hoping that history can repeat itself.

The Waterford management team have said that getting out of the bottom tier of the National Football League is their primary target for the year. For that to happen they will have to put together a good string of results together and it would be made easier if that string of results could start this weekend as winning breaths confidence in any side.

Tom McGlinchey has made changes to his set up this year with former Clare Senior Football coach Ephie Fitzgerald coming in to do a similar job with his fellow county man in Waterford after he was overlooked for the Cork Senior Football job last year as officials in the Rebel County opted for Peader Healy to lead them for the year ahead.

He has also brought in Laurence Hurney as a selector and the Ballinacourty man will also add to the management team with his many years experience playing at the highest level within the county and helping his side to win silverware in the last number of years.

Cork will come into this game with the advantage of a competitive game at their backs. Last weekend in a new look McGrath Cup which sees the six counties play a league style competition in two groups of three with the top side in each group advancing to the final towards the end of the month.

Last weekend Peader Healy put out a very experimental looking side in which just two players involved in the All-Ireland qualifier defeat to Kildare last year featured in the 1-10 to 0-12 win over Limerick at Mallow.

The Rebels needed two late points from the experienced Daniel Goulding in that game to ensure they collected the brace of points on offer and will as a result know coming to Ring on Sunday afternoon that a win again this weekend will secure the place in the final from Group B.

What side Waterford sends out this weekend remains to be seen but it is envisaged that it will be along the lines of recent years, with the goalkeeping spot fought out between Ballinacourty’s Stephen Enright and Ardmore’s Sean Barron.

Further out the field Waterford are expected to have an experienced look to it with the likes of the O’Gorman brothers from The Nire, Donie Breathnach and Tadhg Ó hUallachain from the host Club, Tommy Prendergast, Joey Veale and Paul Whyte from Kilrossanty, as well as Ballinacourty’s Brian Looby, Mark Ferncombe and Conor Prunty all set to feature at some stage.

Two experienced players that look set to miss out this weekend are Kilrossanty’s Stephen Prendergast and Ballinacourty’s Patrick Hurney both of whom got married over the Christmas to New Year Period.

A win for Waterford at the Ring venue would set the side up nicely for a big game against Limerick a week later where a second win would give the side confidence heading into the league which the management side has set their eyes on getting out of the bottom division this year as the sides biggest challenge.

Cork however, will travel to Ring as favourites. The new players brought in for last weeks game with Limerick will be hoping to get another run out and to impress this weekend and will then hope that they have done enough to stake a place in the team for the remainder of the year.

Waterford will have to be confident going into this game. If Waterford are to get out of Division four in the league it’s important that from the start of the year that a good string of results is put together to build up confidence and playing competitive games right up to the league is far better than all the challenge games that could be fitted in.