Waterford Ladies Footballers seek fourth win in a row

A win for All-Ireland Intermediate Ladies Football Champions Waterford over Leitrim at Ardmore on Sunday afternoon coupled with other results going the way of Waterford could all but secure Waterford’s place in the semi finals of this years National Division three league which are pencilled in for mid April.

Waterford for the second year in a row are under the guidance of Pat Sullivan and so far his charges have the perfect record, recording wins over Tipperary, Offaly and last time out against Fermanagh.

Leitrim so far have just two games played after their first round game against Fermanagh was called off due to the weather, and since then they have beaten down 4-12 to 1-4 but two weeks ago in their last game they lost to Roscommon 2-12 to 1-5.

When the sides met in the league last year, Waterford had a 5-11 to 3-9 win and when the sides met in the Championship at the semi final stages of the competition at Limerick, Waterford had a 2-17 to 2-6 win.

After their last game Leitrim manager Pat Costello was very disappointed and did not hide his disappointment to a ten point defeat to Roscommon after the game claiming that his side were “beaten to every ball. Roscommon were far the hungrier team, more aggressive and we were beaten to every ball in nearly every position.”

The Leitrim man after that game acknowledged Roscommon had performed well and thoroughly deserved their victory. He will be demanding a much better performance from his charges this time around, knowing that another defeat could well make it difficult for his side to qualify for the knockout stages of the competition as they have yet to play the likes of Wexford and Tipperary, both of whom have serious aspirations of reaching the knockout stages of the competition.

In the last few years Áine Tighe has proven to be Leitrim’s standout player and she often accounts for much of her sides scores.

However, the stronger sides have come up with tactics to curb her influence and when it works, her side sometimes fail to reach the levels they can when she is at her best.

While Áine Tighe is important to Leitrim, its important to note that they are by no means a one woman team as the likes of Michelle Guckian, Claire Beirne, Mairead Stenson, Sharon Kerrigan, Áine Heslin, Deirdre Ward, Dearbhaile Beirne, Niamh Tighe, Carla LeGuen and Michelle Heslin are all quality players.

Waterford last year were magnificent with only one blip all year, that being the league final defeat to Sligo at Parnell Park.

This year in addition to retaining their senior status, winning the league will be the sides number one priority. Nobody will need telling that if Waterford are to be fully equipped to play senior they will have to be playing at a higher level in the league, even if division three is a very competitive league with a number of sides that have played in Junior and Intermediate All-Ireland Finals in recent years involved.

Last year in the league, Pat Sullivan brought in a number of players that had impressed a lot playing in the under 14, 16 and minor grades in recent years and mixed it with some experienced players, something that worked a treat and come the end of the year when the side ran out onto Croke Park from under the steps of the Cusack Stand, a number of these players had done enough to start the game against Kildare in the All-Ireland Final.

The Dungarvan club man and his management team is doing much the same again this time around and in the games played to date, some of the best underage players in recent years have got a chance and have so far impressed.

We can expect Pat Sullivan to give youth its chance again this weekend against Leitrim.

Expect some of the new players brought in this year, the likes of the two Hannah Power’s one from Old Parish the other from Saint Patrick’s, Chloe Fennell, Aisling Mullaney, Laura Mulcahy, Carragh McCarthy and Bronagh Condon to be given a chance again this weekend.

We can also expect to see some of the more experienced players, the likes of Katie Hannon, Mairead, Linda and Aileen Wall, Róisín Tobin who is back in the squad this year, Caoimhe McGrath, Louise, Michelle and Sinead Ryan, Maria Delahunty and Gráinne Kenneally all to play a part as their inclusion in the team is vital if the younger players are to develop.

On paper, little separates these two sides. Over the past few years, Waterford have had the upper hand on the Connacht side. The experience picked up by Waterford last year should stand to them in this game and they should be good enough to make it four wins from four games in this game.

	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	Points For	Points Against	Points Diff	Points
Waterford	3	3	0	0	66	28	38	9
Roscommon	3	2	1	0	46	42	4	6
Wexford	3	2	1	0	33	28	5	6
Tipperary	3	2	1	0	59	25	34	6
Leitrim	2	1	1	0	32	25	7	3
Offaly	3	1	2	0	50	57	-7	3
Fermanagh	2	0	2	0	5	59	-54	0
Down	3	0	3	0	33	60	-27	0