Munster Championship Fixture for Modeligo

After coming ever so close in securing a place in the knockout stages of this year’s National League, losing out to Limerick on score difference after the two sides drew their last game in the round robin section of the competition against each other, Waterford’s senior Camogie team are back in action again this coming Saturday when they take on Cork in the Munster Senior Championship at Modeligo.

The host club for this game are a relatively new club and since their formation a short few years back they have made great strides on the underage scene and the County Board playing a Munster Championship game on their superb field just off the main Clonmel to Youghal road and a short distance from both Cappoquin and Dungarvan will surly spur those working hard within the small club to keep going at what they are doing and maybe some of their better underage players who might attend this game might be inspired to have ambitions to play for the county at this level in the years to come.

Waterford is under new management this year, with Cappoquin club man Donal O’Rourke who has played underage Inter County Hurling between the posts for Waterford the man in charge of team affairs.

He might have come into the set up late in the day compared to other counties appointing their manager but it’s fair to say that since taking the manager’s job he has hit the ground running, putting together a panel of over 30 players together for the league recently and to say he got a response from the players he has brought together would be an understatement.

Since coming up to play in the top flight after winning the Division Two league title and All-Ireland Intermediate Camogie Championship in 2015 Waterford have more than held their own, but what they have achieved so far this year tops what they have achieved in the last few years.

Throughout the league Waterford played a very attractive brand of Camogie and would have won many admirers from those that would have seen them playing.

Over the course of the league the Waterford management team gave all in their panel plenty of time to show what they do and each and every player that was given can time did impress.

Over the course of the league the players from the Lismore Club who won the County Senior League and Senior Championship last year, adding the Munster Intermediate Crown to their Roll of Honour missed much of the campaign as they were with their club preparing for their All-Ireland Semi Final, and while some of their players did manage to get some game time under their belts in the latter games of the league, no doubt since then they will have pushed those involved throughout the league hard in training and will be hoping to get a run in the team from the off in this game and in the upcoming All-Ireland Championship which begins in June.

Waterford’s opponents this weekend are no strangers to success in recent years, as Cork have contested their quota of finals in the different competitions that they have entered.

The Rebellettes reached the League Final this year where they were beaten by Kilkenny playing on home soil at Nowlan Park in a game that was a curtain raiser to the National Hurling League final between Kilkenny and Tipperary.

They reached that final unbeaten recording wins over Galway, Wexford, Tipperary and Offaly in the group stages of the competition and then beat Limerick 2-17 to 2-13 in the semi finals, before finishing second best to Kilkenny on a 0-15 to 1-11 score line.

They will bring a vastly experienced side with them to Modeligo and will include the likes of Hannah Looney, Ashling Thompson, Orla Cronin, Amy O’Connor, Orla Cotter, Aoife Murray, Gemma O’Connor, Rena Buckley, Amy O’Connor, Linda Collins, Libby Coppinger and Julia Whyte amongst others.

The Munster Championship would rank third in importance for most sides behind the National League and All-Ireland Championship and for this reason it remains to be seem will Cork field their best side from the off in this game or whether Paudie Murray will field a side made up of a mix of Cork’s most experienced players and some of their most promising underage talents or if they field a full strength side.

Waterford regardless of what fifteen is sent out to start the game would be expected to be strong, with maybe some of the newer players involved this year also expected to get some game time.

That could mean the likes of Brianna O’Regan or Ciara Jackman starting in goal with the likes of Iona Heffernan, Aoife Landers, Lorraine Bray, Fiona Morrissey, Niamh Rockett, Aisling Power, Beth Carton, Kaisha Tobin, Jenny McCarthy, Annie Fitzgerald, Claire Whyte, Shauna Kiernan, Marie Russell, Caithriona McGlone, Sibeal Harney, Becky Kavanagh, Mairead Power, Áine Lyng, Claire Murphy, Kate McMahon and Niamh Murphy all vying for positions out the field.

After serving up good performances in wins over Meath and Dublin, in the draws against Clare and Limerick and in the defeat to Kilkenny who relinquished their All-Ireland Crown to Cork last September, Waterford will feel confident going into this game, and will know that if they can get a competitive win or two under their belts before the All-Ireland Championship begins it will give the side plenty of confidence going into that competition.

Cork will travel to Modeligo as favourites and will be looking to get the effects of the league final defeat out of the system as quickly as possible, but Waterford will push them hard and who knows maybe even get a result that few might predict from this game. Something is telling me it might just happen.