Waterford Ladies Seek All Three Points at Gold Coast

Waterford Senior Ladies Footballers get their National Football League campaign underway tomorrow when they take on Wexford in a South East Derby at the Gold Coast Grounds outside Dungarvan.

The Déise County are under new management this year after Pat Sullivan stood down after last year’s Championship campaign after four successful years in charge of the county, the highlights being the winning of the 2015 All-Ireland Intermediate Final and the Division Three National League Final the following year and in the year’s following on from these successes the side under his care have more than held their own against stronger opposition.

Last year in the National League Waterford reached the semi final stages of the competition having just survived in division two the previous year and will look to go a step or two further this coming year.

New manager Ciaran Curran who like Pat Sullivan before him is a member of the Dungarvan club has had not long with his charges having only been appointed in recent weeks, but he will know that a lot of the hard work in preparing this team will have been done for him in the last few years, but in saying that he will want to stamp his mark on the team.

He has inherited some very experienced players in the likes of Michelle Ryan, Karen McGrath, Aileen Wall and Caoimhe McGrath who will be very much in demand this year as she is also a part of the county senior Camogie set up for which respective managers Ciaran Curran and Donal O’Rourke deserve great praise for allowing such a talented player play both codes.

While Ciaran Curran has to plan this year without the services of some experienced players that were part and parcel of the Waterford set up in recent years he still has some very good experienced players that have not already being mentioned including the likes of Caragh McCarthy, Rebecca Casey, Aisling Mullaney, Emma and Katie Murray, Maria Delahunty and Emer Fennell.

It also has to be pointed out that some players that have played with the county in recent years are back involved this year after a break away from the inter county set up in recent years. Coming back into the panel this year are the likes of Shauna Dunphy, Trisha Kiely and Katie Hannon who have all played with the county in recent years.

While Waterford are without some experienced players for the start of the league some exciting young players are brought into the panel.

Rosie Landers has come through from some successful underage teams and I for one will be expecting her to make a major challenge for the number 1 shirt in the years to come while Abbie Dalton another highly talented player who has come through from the underage teams is also involved this year and like with Rosie Landers expect her to nail now a regular place in the team in the coming months and years.

Also back in the team this year is the brilliant Róisín Tobin. Followers of the game of Ladies Football in the county will know that the Abbeyside player picked up a serious injury playing a National League game against Sligo at the WIT Arena that has kept her out of the side till now. At the time she was playing the best football of her career and to see her back in the set up and listed in the panel for tomorrow’s game is brilliant to see.

Waterford have not played Wexford in the league with a number of years as they have played in grades lower than Waterford for a small number of years now, but that will not mean that Waterford will under estimate them this weekend.

Great strides have been made in the Model County when it comes to ladies football in the last decade. Five years ago they won the All-Ireland Junior Football Final beating New York at Croke Park and last year they won Division three of the National League beating Meath in the final.

They come into this game with some experienced players in their panel of players.

Catriona Murray and Fiona Rochford are two players that Waterford will have to keep an eye on while the likes of Bernie Breen, Clara Donnelly, Chloe Foxe and Niamh Butler need close watching.

Waterford know that this is a match that they have to win and will be the game they most wanted to start with as they will not need telling that there is much tougher games to come.

With four teams to advance to the knockout stages of the competition, Waterford will want to start with a win. Will Ciaran Curran’s charges do that? I think they will.