Big Weekend for Déise Ladies

Last weekend the Waterford Senior Hurling and Football teams played their final games in this year’s Championships. For most of the players involved in them games and those that were part of the extended panels for both sides they have a weekend off this week before they return to action again the weekend after in the second round of the County Senior Hurling Championship or in the Divisional Intermediate or Junior Hurling Championships.

But for Waterford all hopes for 2019 to be another disappointing year are not dashed, as this weekend two of our county senior sides who at times don’t get the recognition they deserve are in action.

On Saturday evening Donal O’Rourke and his Senior Camogie side make the trip to ‘The Ragg’ a few miles outside Thurles to take on Tipperary in the first round of this year’s All-Ireland Championship and 24 hours after that games finishes Ciaran Curran’s Senior Ladies Football team face a daunting task against Cork in this year’s Munster Final which is set to go ahead at Fraher Field.

For the Camogie team this will be the third time which they have faced off up to Tipperary this year and the fourth time in less than 12 months and on each of these previous occasions victory has gone to the Premier County side, but no needs telling that a run of victories for one side over another has to come to an end sometime and it would be nice to think that it could happen for Waterford this coming weekend.

When the sides met in the National League at the De La Salle Club Grounds back in February a depleted Waterford side lost out 1-11 to 0-10 and when they clashed a few weeks back in the Munster Championship again at ‘The Ragg’ Tipperary once more proved to strong winning 2-23 to 1-8, but the question has to be asked with the Munster Championship coming third in importance to most sides after the National League and All-Ireland Championship how much of his hand did Donal O’Rourke show to the opposition for this weekend.

The two sides played in opposite groups in last year’s All-Ireland Championship and Waterford despite losing their two opening games against Galway and Kilkenny did enough to secure a place in the quarter finals for the first time in the modern era where they took on Tipperary at Pairc Ui Chaoimh after the Premier County side finished second in their group.

Waterford on Lee-side played remarkably well but on the night Tipperary’s greater experience at this level proved vital for them as they ran out winners on a 1-14 to 1-7 score line.

Little will or should be read into the last game between the two sides, not for Waterford anyway. Tipperary as we know are going to be a strong side, but Waterford since coming up to the senior grade after winning the Intermediate title in 2015 are making steady progress, and with some excellent underage players coming through and experienced players in the panel, going forward there could well be some great days in store for the ladies from the Déise County.

Waterford will know plenty about Tipperary for this game. Nobody will need telling how good star player Cáit Devane can be. She is a terrific striker of the ball from both play and from frees and is also a quality team player.

But like all top sides Tipperary are by no means a one player team and in the likes of Orla O’Dwyer, Niamh Tracey, Grace O’Brien, Caoimhe Maher, Miriam Campion and Laura Loughnane to name but a few they have players that can win any game even if the opposition managed to keep Devane quiet.

When it comes to Waterford Beth Carton receives most plaudits, and it’s easy to see while as the talented De La Salle player is one of the finest players there is in the game right now.

But just like with Cáit Devane and Tipperary even if you were to keep Waterford’s top scorer quiet there is the likes of Niamh Rockett, Lorraine Bray and Áine Lyng to cope with, three players nominated for All-Stars last year, plus the likes of Ciara Jackman, Brianna O’Regan, Iona Heffernan, Sibheal Harney, Emma Hannon, Aoife Landers, Aisling Power, Claire Whyte, Mairead and   Áine Power, Orla Hickey, Annie Fitzgerald and Kaiesha Tobin to deal with, all players who can be a handful for any side.

Waterford will know that a good start to this competition is vital. They knew last year that they were playing the two strongest sides first and if they got favourable results in their last two games then they would reach the knockout stages, something that was to happen, but this time around the fixture computer has not proven to be as kind to Waterford.

Donal O’Rourke’s side are in a group along with Cork, Dublin, Clare and this weekend’s opponents Tipperary as well as Meath who it could be said are the weakest side in the group, but with only three of the six sides advancing to the knockout stages, there is going to be some disappointed players come the end of July.

On Sunday evening the Waterford Senior Ladies Football Team are in action at Fraher Field when they take on what will be a very strong Cork side in this year’s Munster Final.

The two sides have met already in the Round Robin section of the competition, where Cork ran out very convincing winners on a 3-22 to 0-7 score line at the Cork IT Grounds in the second series of games in the Round Robin part of the competition.

Cork as anyone that knows anything about Ladies Football will tell you are a powerfully strong side, who have won so much in the last ten years or so.

Sometimes when a side comes along and compete at the top as the players get older and begin to pull away from the Inter County side, the county often finds it hard to replace some players, but the structures in Cork are such that when a leading player retires they have another player who is equally as strong and sometimes even stronger to come into their place, and as a result they are able to stay at the top for so long.

When the sides clashed recently Cork had a fantastic start and scored two goals inside a minute of each other before the fourth minute of the game was complete, and as a result of this start Waterford were always playing catch up.

By the break they were 2-11 to 0-3 in front and before they kicked their third goal of the game they kicked half a dozen unanswered points at the start of their second half to extend their lead.

Waterford will know that if they are to win on Sunday evening, one player that they will have to keep very quite is Orla Finn. She hit 11 points in the recent win over Waterford and hit another nine in her sides win over Kerry recently. Before these two games she hit five points for her side in this year’s Division One National League Final where Cork beat Galway 1-12 to 2-7 at Parnell Park.

But even if Waterford were to keep her quiet they will have also to keep the likes of Ciara O’Sullivan, Niamh Cotter, Daire Kelly, Libby Coppinger, Saoirse Noonan and Eimear Scally quiet if they are to get something from this game. To keep one quiet will be difficult. To keep all quiet, while not impossible, will be extremely difficult.

But while Waterford will not be fancied to get something from this game, they only have to think back to 2017 when they played both Kerry and Cork at Fraher Field in the Round Robin section of the Munster Championship and with many of the players involved that day again said to be involved on Sunday evening, Ciaran Curran’s side will believe that they can cause a shock.

Just like with the Camogie team great progress is made with Ladies Football in the Déise County since they won the All-Ireland Intermediate Championship in 2015, and just like in Camogie there is some brilliant young players coming through who are challenging the more established players for a place in the starting team and not just settle for a place on the panel.

Players like Aileen and Mairead Wall, Michelle Ryan, Eimear Fennell, Maria Delahunty, the Murray sisters, Karen McGrath, Róisín Tobin, Shauna Dunphy and Caoimhe McGrath are all vastly experienced players at this point.

Also part of this panel of players are some brilliant young players the likes of Rosie Landers, Rebecca Casey, Kelly Ann Hogan, Chloe Fennell, Kathy Hayes and Liz Devine, players that we will hear a lot more about in the years ahead.

In both the Camogie and Ladies Football games this coming weekend Waterford will enter them as the underdog. Will this bother the Waterford players and management? I for one can’t answer that question for them, but somehow I don’t think it will let it affect them. I can even see it as a motivation. The talk between players before the games this weekend might well be how nobody is giving them a chance of winning, and suggesting amongst themselves how they will go out and show those doubters or knockers a thing or two.