Waterford to Contest All-Ireland Final in Nenagh

McDonagh Park in Nenagh plays host to this year’s All-Ireland Under 16 ‘B’ Camogie Final on Sunday afternoon when Munster Rivals Waterford and Limerick Clash for a 2pm start which will be followed by the ‘A’ Final in the same age group between Cork and Galway two hours later.

Sunday will see Waterford appear in the final of this competition for the seventh time and Waterford’s overall record in the competition is rather good, winning it for the first time in 2003 where they proved too strong for Armagh in Portlaoise while they recorded back to back wins in 2014 and 2015, the counties last successes in this competition, while there was defeats for Waterford in 2007 and 2009 against Derry after a replay and Wexford respectfully while in 2013 after winning the Munster Final against the same opposition they went under to Cork in the All-Ireland Final.

In all of these games players that stood out for Waterford in the finals or along the way have gone on to make a name for themselves in the game in the years ahead, and no doubt many involved on Sunday will be dreaming that they too can go on and represent the county at the highest level over the coming years.

In 2003 Laura Buckley from Lismore was the team captain and Laura was one of many on this team to go on and play on much bigger days over the following years. Players like Aisling O’Brien, Charlotte Raher, Jenny Simpson, Emma Hannon, Áine Lyng, and Trish Jackman were all involved in a memorable day for Waterford Camogie.

In Waterford’s most recent finals players like Ciara Jackman, Kate Lynch, Kaiesha Tobin, Niamh Murphy, Brianna O’Regan, Saoirse Bonnar, Sibeal Harney, Beth Carton, Aisling Power, Kate McMahon, Iona Heffernan and Caoimhe McGrath were involved in different panels and have gone on to play for the county in recent years.

Both of these sides are at this stage of the competition very much so on merit having both won their respective groups in the earlier stages of the competition.

To reach Sunday’s final both sides have amassed some huge scores along the way which could well suggest that this game could be one where the attacking players on both sides will be on top.

Limerick finished their group having won four and drawn one of their games. They started with wins over Kildare (4-10 to 0-5), Carlow (10-4 to 1-7) and Westmeath (5-12 to 1-2) before sharing the spoils 2-8 to 3-5 against Offaly, but they got back to winning ways in some fashion in their final group game with a massive 7-22 to 2-2 win over Down.

Waterford had a team less in their group to play and after getting  a bye in the first round of games, they made up lost ground on the sides that recorded wins in the opening round of fixtures when they pulled off a massive 6-16 to 1-6 win over Derry and followed it up with equally as impressive wins over Laois (5-20 to 2-3), Armagh (4-12 to 1-7) and finally Meath (7-27 to 0-1).

In their semi finals played recently both sides once more looked very impressive as Limerick proved too strong for Laois at Nenagh winning 2-7 to 1-9 while Waterford had a 3-17 to 1-5 win over Carlow in Freshford.

Limerick have former Waterford senior hurling coach Bertie Sherlock working them and he will have them in fine fatal for this game and it is envisaged that they could well retain the side that beat Laois last time out for this game.

In that game full forward Megan Walsh and centre forward Sinead Barry were the sides goal getters and are clearly players that side coached by Róisín Hartley will have to keep a close eye on  as are free taker Nadine White in the middle of the field and Ella Hession in attack who have contributed their share of scores to this final.

Waterford will have to make changes for this game as full back Sarah Maher was dismissed on a straight red card in the semi final win over Carlow, but Waterford have a sizeable panel and will be able to replace her through some re-jigging of the team.

Centre forward Alannah O’Sullivan last time out was the team’s top scorer and they will be looking to her this time out again with the big scores when presented with the chance. Mairead O’Brien, substitute Alisha Flynn and Rachel Walsh were the team goal scorers last time out and if they can beat Limerick net minder Ciara Mulqueen then you have to feel that Waterford are in with an excellent chance.

This is a game that could go right to the wire, and as we have seen from their route to the final, both sides have some quality score getters.

As to how good these two sides are, you have to go on their semi final wins and how the sides faired against opposition their opponents had already played earlier in the competition. Waterford in the semi finals looked to be the more impressive of the two sides and get the nod to win this one.

Waterford Panel: Elena Gallagher (Gailltir), Dara Fitzgerald (Gailltir), Sarah Maher (Gailltir), Helen Connolly (Ferrybank), Aoife Hartley (Gailltir), Laoise Forest (Gailltir), Maeve Sheridan (Gailltir), Áine O’Neill (Brickey Rangers), Kelsie Obanya (Tramore), Ellen Boylan (Portlaw), Alannah O’Sullivan (Gailltir), Mairead O’Brien (Modeligo), Alannah McNulty (De La Salle), Rhona Drohan (Modeligo), Rachel Walsh (Butlerstown),  Zoe Mackey (Portlaw), Alisha Flynn (Gailltir), Clodagh Hoctor (Gailltir), Emma Hickey (Modeligo), Lilly Anne McGill (An Rinn), Emma Hickey (Modeligo), Aoibhinn O’Grady (Abbeyside), Caoimhe Forest (Gailltir), Ellie Swift (Saint Annes), Ruth O’Regan (Portlaw), Niamh Laffan (Portlaw), Onelia Whelan (An Rinn), Aoife Murphy (Gailltir), Rachel Horsom (Cappoquin), Chloe Power (Modeligo), Natasha Dobbyn (Tramore), Anna Mai Drohan (Gailltir), Molly Comerford (Gailltir).