Club Championships in full swing

Adult Championships.

With Waterford Intermediate teams break between the Liberty Insurance All Ireland Championships league phase and their All Ireland semi-final on August 16th against Limerick, the action has switched to Waterford Club action. 

Senior Championship

The second round of this years championship was played this past weekend. The matches up for decision this week were Lismore hosting St. Anne's and Gailltir hosting Butlerstown. The Lismore match against St. Anne's was a repeat of the 2013 Senior Championship final and saw a considerable number of Waterford's Intermediate team face each other as opponents. St. Anne's had such Waterford players as Becky Kavanagh, Pauline Cunningham, Claire Whyte, Mairead Murphy, Charlotte Raher, Karen Kelly, Niamh Rockett and Sinead Cummins. Lismore have their own Waterford players such as Shona Curran, Nicola Morrissey, Shauna Prendergast, Shauna Kiernan and Ruth Geoghegan on their team. Only two points separated the teams at halftime with Lismore edging the 1-05 to 1-03 scoreline but Lismore pulled away in the second half to be eventual winners of 2-14 to St. Anne's 1-09. Some of Lismore scorers were Aoife Hannon (1-08), Ruth Geoghegan (1-0) and Caithriona McGlone (0-03) while St. Anne's relied on scores from placed balls when Karen Kelly converted seven frees.

 Butlerstown conceded a walkover to Gailltir in the other match. 

The next round of the Senior championships matches sees Lismore host Butlerstown while St. Anne's host Gailltir and are scheduled to be played on Sunday 3rd August.

Intermediate Championship

The second round match saw Portlaw host Cappoquin and Brickey Rangers host An Rinn. An Rinn followed up their win against newly promoted Portlaw from last week with another win against Brickey Rangers. Cappoquin won their match against Portlaw which means that both An Rinn and Cappoquin are joint top of the table which means that next weeks match between Cappoquin and An Rinn will surely decide which team will top the table and be placed straight into the final while the loser will be destined for the semi-final play-off.  The other match sees Brickey Rangers host Portlaw and the winner of this will also reach the semi-final play-off as third placed team.

​Junior Championship

The second round of matches saw Roanmore host Lismore and Ferrybank host Tallow. Lismore won their previous encounter against Tallow last week and travelled to Roanmore to hopefully continue the run. The Roanmore team had been beaten in the previous round by Ferrybank and were hoping to get a result from the game. In a tight game were both sides had scoring chances the result ended up a draw. The other match saw Ferrybank continue their winning ways when they won the encounter against Tallow. Next weeks matches sees Lismore host Ferrybank and Tallow host Roanmore with results determining final table positions. Ferrybank are top of the table at the present but Lismore can overtake then if they win the game . Tallow can still make the semi-final spot at the expense of Roanmore if they win the match so no team in this section can afford any slip-ups.

U16 Championship Round-up

Now that we have completed three rounds of the U16 Championships the positions that teams occupy is becoming clearer.

Section A

The clash of the two top teams occurred earlier this week when Gailltir travelled into De la Salle for the encounter. In a match that will surely go a lot way to determining which of these two teams that will top the table at the end of the league phase it was the city side that prevailed in the end. Cappoquin recovered from their previous rounds result against Gailltir to beat St. Anne's in a high scoring match and the final match in this section saw Brickey Rangers beat Dungarvan. At this moment it looks like De la Salle will top the group but all other teams are in with a chance to reach the semi-final play-off. The next round of matches are scheduled to be played on August 5th and sees Cappoquin host De la Salle, St. Anne's host Dungarvan and Brickey Rangers host Gailltir. 

Section B

Both Lismore and An Rinn sit in joint first position at the moment as Lismore beat Clonea/Portlaw and An Rinn beat Ferrybank. Tramore had a bye this week so they will be eager to get back to playing and will face a test against the unbeaten An Rinn. Lismore will host Ferrybank with Clonea/Portlaw having the bye. 

Section C

The only fixture fulfilled in this section was Modeligo against St. Mollerans. Modeligo followed up their first round win with another win in a tight encounter against St. Mollerans to move them clear at the top of the table with maximum points. Although suffering a defeat this week, St. Molleran's share second spot with Tallow who had a bye this week. The Abbeyside and Ronamore match was rescheduled. Next round match sees Abbeyside host St. Molleran's while Tallow face Modeligo. 

 

Waterford advance to All-Ireland semi final

Waterford U16s through to All Ireland Semi-Final

Congratulations to Waterford's U16 team that beat Tipperary on Sunday to cement their top position of the table and reach the All Ireland semi-final.

Adult Championships

With Waterford's Intermediate team having completed the league phase of the Liberty Insurance All Ireland Championship this past weekend saw the commencement of the adult county championships. 

Senior Championship

The Senior Championship has four teams, these are reigning All Ireland Intermediate Club champions Lismore plus Gailltir, St. Anne's and Butlerstown. Fixtures this weekend saw Gailltir host Lismore in a match that saw many of Waterford's Intermediate panel face each other as opponents rather than as team mates. Gailltir have Waterford Intermediate players such as Trish Jackman, Zoe O'Donoghue and Emma Hannon while Lismore have payers such as Shona Curran, Nicola Morrissey, Shauna Prendergast, Shauna Kiernan and Ruth Geoghegan on their team. The result went the way of the All Ireland champions Lismore. The other match sees St. Anne's host Butlerstown. This match was rescheduled for Monday 21st July so results will appear in next weeks notes. The second round of the Senior championships sees Lismore host St. Anne's (a repeat of last year's Senior final) while Butlerstown host Gailltir and are scheduled to be played Friday 25th July.

Intermediate Championship

The Intermediate Championship sees the teams of Cappoquin, Brickey Rangers, Portlaw and An Rinn face each other. The first round match saw Portlaw (last year's Junior champions) travel to An Rinn and the step up in standard was just beyond them and An Rinn won this encounter. Unfortunately Brickey Rangers could not field against Cappoquin. The next round of matches sees Portlaw host Cappoquin and Brickey Rangers host An Rinn to be played Friday 25th July.

Junior Championship

The Junior Championship has Ferrybank, Roanmore, Tallow and Lismore. Ferrybank travelled to Roanmore on Friday last and won the encounter. The Tallow & Lismore match was rescheduled to Sunday evening so result will be reported in next weeks notes. The next round of matches sees Roanmore host Lismore and Ferrybank host Tallow.

​Minor Championship Round-up

Now that we have completed two rounds of the Minor Championship the positions that teams occupy is becoming clearer.

Group 1

In Group1 we have Brickey Rangers, Cappoquin, Clonea, Ferrybank, Roanmore/St. Molleran's and St. Anne's. Brickey Rangers followed up their first round win against Clonea with a win against St. Anne's which moves them top of the table. Cappoquin and Clonea are right behind them but unfortunately Cappoquin's second round match against Ferrybank had to be rescheduled. Clonea got their first points of the championship after they defeated Roanmore in an extremely tight encounter.

Round 3 of the championship is scheduled for 29^th July and Brickey Rangers meet Ferrybank which is definitely a result to watch as Brickey Rangers have Hannah Murphy-Nix, Caoimhe McGrath Molly Curran, Catherine Hahessey, Rachel Donnelly and Cadhla McGrath on Waterford's All Ireland Minor winning panel while Ferrybank have Niamh Ahearne and Iona Heffernan (who recently broke into Waterford's Intermediate team) on their team. The other matches in the group sees Roanmore host Cappoquin and St. Anne's host Clonea.

Group 2

Group 2 sees De la Salle, Gailltir, Tramore, Lismore and An Rinn. De la Salle continued their winning ways when they won their match against Tramore/Butlerstown while An Rinn gave a walkover to Gailltir which means that both Gailltir and De la Salle sit on top of the table with maximum points each. Round 3 sees Tramore/Butlerstown host Gailltir while An Rinn host Lismore. As De la Salle have a bye this week, it gives an opportunity to Gailltir to move clear at the top if they can beat Tramore/Butlerstown.

U8 and U10 Blitzes

Well done to host clubs of Dungarvan, Gailltir and Lismore. From some of the pictures floating around on Facebook, it looks like all the girls enjoyed themselves. It great to see so many young girls playing camogie across the County and great credit has to be given to all the clubs and especially mentors, coaches and parents for assisting during these events.

Galway deny Waterford 3 in a row

All Ireland U14B Final        Waterford 5-8    Galway 6-12

Waterford’s quest for a record breaking three All Ireland U14B Titles in a row, was thwarted by Galway in the dying minutes of a very competitive match, in MacDonagh Park, Nenagh on Sunday last. A player of the match display by the Waterford captain, Kaeisha Tobin, and an outstanding performance by Waterford goalkeeper, Rosie Landers, wasn’t enough to prevent Galway winning on a score line of Galway 6-12 Waterford 5-8.

Galway opened the scoring after 30 seconds with a point from their impressive midfielder, Amy Coen. Waterford’s response was immediate, as Kaeisha Tobin pointed after a swift passing move by the Waterford players. Galway regained the lead on 5 minutes when corner forward Rebecca Conway was first to react to a ball rebounding off the cross-bar.

Waterford hit a purple patch on 9 minutes when Kaeisha Tobin found the back of the net for Waterford’s opening goal and the same player was on hand a minute later to convert her own penalty after she had been fouled in the small square.

Galway responded with a goal of their own, as full forward, Ailish Morrissey, gave Landers no chance in the Waterford goal as she finished off some excellent Galway inter-play between Coen and Miskell. Waterford responded again and from the kick-out  the ball was moved quickly downfield for Aishling Baumann to point and extend Waterford’s lead to 3 points.

As the play moved up and down the pitch at tremendous speed, Galway leveled the game again on 15 minutes through a Rebecca Conway goal, only to see Waterford move the ball back up the pitch for Abbie Dunphy to claim Waterford’s third goal. Indeed Galway could have been back on level terms a minute later, except for a last ditch tackle by Margaret Anne Boylan when she disposed the Galway forward as she was about to shoot from inside the small square.

Waterford increased their lead to 6 points on 23 minutes through Aishling Baumann (1-1) and Annie Fitzgerald (0-1). Some excellent defending by the Waterford backs kept Galway scoreless for the final 10 minutes of the half, as the first half finished on a score line of Waterford 4-4 Galway 2-4.

Waterford brought on two players, Katie Duggan Sullivan and Faye Curley at the half time break. Playing with the aid of the breeze in the second half Galway immediately went on the attack only for Landers to produce another excellent save to kept Galway at bay.

Waterford’s fifth goal came as the result of a great run by Tobin through the Galway defence with a final pass to Abbie Dunphy  who found the net with coolness for her second goal of the game. Galway responded with points from  Coleman and  Mikell, before Conway got her second and Galway’s third goal of the match on 35 minutes.

With Waterford defending strongly against a persistent Galway attack, a superb solo effort by Galway’s Lynsey Noone on 43 minutes followed by another Miskell point for Galway leveled the scores. Galway then edged in front from a soft free which Coleman converted easily.

An awesome display at full forward by the Waterford captain, Kaiesha Tobin saw her put Waterford back into the lead with three points in as many minutes. With 54 minutes on the clock Rebecca Conway edged Galway back in front with a well taken opportunistic goal.

As the clock ran down, Waterford couldn’t break out of their own half to get that elusive score that was badly needed. Three Galway points in injury time and a goal with the last kick of the game broke Waterford hearts and gave Galway their second All Ireland win at this age level.

Uachtaráin Cumann Peil Gael na mBan , Pat Quill, commended both teams, and their management, for the exceptionally skillful and entertaining  match, before presenting the Waterford Captain, Kaiesha Tobin, with a well deserved Player of the Match award.

Waterford Team: R Landers, L Dunford, A-M O’Brien,, M Curran, M-A Boylan, M-K Curran, J Devereux,  A Dalton, K Corbett Barry,  A Fitzgerald (0-1), M Boyce, K Lynch, A Dunphy (2-1), K Tobin (2-5) (C), A Baumann (1-1) Subs used : Faye Curley, Katie Duggan Sullivan, Sarah Lacey, Aine Flynn, Niamh Kennedy. Subs unused: M Foran, E Frisby, C Murphy, H White, E Flynn, N McCombe, R Behan, K Cliffe, A Walsh, C Ryan

Management: Pat Sullivan (Manager), Johnny Troy, Margaret Foley, Ciara Dunphy, Philly Curley, Mary Fahey.

 

3 in a row for Barony Girls under 12 side

U12 Three In A Row

Our U 12’s were the toast of the club on Thursday as they won the U12 title for the third year in a row, wonderful scenes  in Ballymabin as Aoife Fitzgerald was presented with the shield by County Camogie Secretary Morgan Conroy, well done to all involved keep up the good work.

U16/Minor

A very busy week of Camogie at club and county level, Tuesday evening saw our U 16 team travel to Cappoquin for a championship game, our midfield dominated the play from early in the game feeding our forwards with lots of ball which they converted into scores, C. Jackman, C. Carroll, C.O.Sullivan and E. Walsh all contributing, our backline stood stern in defence while  L O’Donoghue blocked out some high dropping balls her full back line mopped up any loose balls to keep the Cappoquin side scoreless at half time. With J.O.Connell, A.Fitzgerald and A.Corcoran adding to the score line in the second half this was a great display from the girls in their first game of the year together. A break this week for some of the girls as our minors who play An Rionn on Tuesday in Gaultier at 7.30 will try and repeat their good form from last week’s win over Lismore.

Senior

The senior team put on a fine display on Friday night in the non county player league with a good win over Butlerstown on a score line of 3.12 to 1.04 let’s hope they can carry this form into next Friday night’s championship game against Lismore, which I know you will all be along to support them.

U8/U10

Next Saturday our U8’s & 10’s will be hosting a blitz in Ballymabin where our u 8 team will get the chance to try out their new jersey’s kindly sponsored by Maxol on the Dunmore road, anyone around to help out on the day is more than welcome.

Good wins on the inter county scene

Waterford intermediates have qualified for the all Ireland semi finals after a good win over Wexford, the U 16 team won again beating Derry while the U 14 team won out the Dublin inter county blitz on Saturday, well done to all involved including all the Barony girls represented on all the various panels.    

Waterford Under 14's record win in Dublin

U14s win Dublin blitz

Waterford Camogie U14 Development Squad travelled to Dublin Blitz on Saturday for the annual Paul Beecher competition. This was the first time that Waterford participated in this competition and were anxious to prove their worth.

Placed in the "B" competition, they won all their group games beating Tipperary B, Dublin B and Meath A. In the Semi Final they played Cork B and enjoyed a good win. In the final, they faced Tipperary B again, after they had defeated Kilkenny B in their semi-final. Tipperary started  in a very determined manner, seeking revenge for their group stage defeat and raced into an early lead. Waterford slowly settled and by half-time had nudged ahead on the score-board. In the second-half Waterford played their best hurling of the year so far as the defence performed heroically to restrict the opposition and the forwards combined intelligently to run out comprehensive winners at the end. Gaultier's Shauna Fitzgerald, the captain proudly received the winning trophy on behalf of her team

 Panel for Dublin Blitz: Katie O'Keeffe (DLS), Aisling Madigan (DLS), Ciara Kilcawley (Brickey Rangers), Aoife Hahessy (Clonea), Keeley Corbett Barry (Clonea), Aisling Baumann (Dungarvan), Alix Fitzgerald (Dungarvan), Kaiesha Tobin (Dungarvan), Annie Fitzgerald (Gailltir), Shauna Fitzgerald (Gailltir), Emma Flynn (Gailltir)Capt, Kate Lynch (Gailltir), Ciara O'Sullivan (Gailltir), Leah Sheridan (Gailltir), Mary Kate Curran (Modeligo), Margaret Ann Boylan (Portlaw), Eimear Foran (Portlaw), Aoife Fleming (St. Mollerans), Emma Norris (St. Molleran), Leah Barry (Tramore), Muireann Cuddihy (Tramore), Ciara Griffin (Tramore), Sally Kelly (Tramore)

Well done to all the players and this is another example at all the excellent work that is occurring at underage level in Waterford camogie.

Win for Waterford Intermediate Team seals All Ireland Semi-final Place

After a setback to Waterford Intermediate camogie teams All Ireland plans last week when they suffered their first loss of the 2014 Liberty Insurance Championship to Kilkenny, the team responded this week with an easy win against Wexford when they won on a score of 1-13 to 0-04.

Although it proved to be a straight forward win in the end it was not always sure particularly at the start of the match. Waterford opened the game brigthly but could not convert scoring chances and saw five scoreable chances sail wide of the upright. It was not until the twelfth minute that Waterford opened their scoring when Nicola Morrissey latched onto a Shona Curran pass and fired over, but two quick Wexford frees saw Waterford trail shortly after. Players in the Waterford defense such as Shauna Prendergast, Pauline Cunningham, Fiona Morrissey and Claire Whyte were restricting Wexford scoring chances and after fifteen minutes of play the Waterford midfield started to exert considerable influence on the game and  two Trish Jackman scores (1f) saw us take the lead again , a lead which was never surrendered. Scores from Shona Curran and Karen Kelly finished Waterford's scoring in the first half and Waterford would have been further clear except for some more wides and good Wexford defensive play. Wexford could only score one further point before the break to leave the halftime score at 0-05 to 0-03. 

Waterford came out strong at the start of the second half and extended the lead after Ruth Geoghegan was fouled and Trish Jackman converted the free. Waterford were unlucky not to score a goal when Shona Curran released Lorraine Bray but Laura Brennan in the Wexford goal made an excellent save with Waterford converted the resulting 45. Waterford didn't have to wait long for their goal and once again Lorraine Bray was on the end of some excellent Waterford play to fire the ball into the Wexford net.

Waterford restricted Wexford to two points in the second half, both frees, demonstrating the dominance that the team exerted and the hardwork performed by the defense. Waterford continued to score and points from Fiona Morrissey, Nicola Morrissey and Trish Jackman. As fulltime approached substitutes were brought on and contributed to the result and Emma Hannon scored her second point in two weeks after coming off the bench.

At fulltime the team had the result they needed are to be congratulated on an excellent team performance but need to be wary of the number of scoring chances that went wide.

This concluded Waterford's league phase of this year's Liberty Insurance Intermediate Championship in which Waterford won three of their four ​matches and scored a total of 7-41 and conceded 5-29 and finished with 6 points from a possible 8. At the same time that Waterford were in action against Wexford,  Meath (the only team that could prevent Waterford reaching the semi-final) were playing Cork and the result from this match went in Waterford's favour with Cork beating Meath 2-12 to 0-10. There is still one round of matches to be played next week (Waterford have a bye) but the results from these matches cannot prevent Waterford playing in this year's championship semi-final.

The All Ireland semi-finals are fixed for 16th August and it looks like we will finish runners-up to Kilkenny. As the second placed team in our Group we will face the top placed team in Group 1 which looks like it will be Limerick or Galway at present. 

U16s

Well done to the U16 panel that beat Antrim on Sunday on a score of 4-13 to 3-8. That's three wins from three. Next up is Tipperary.

Non County Player League Final

The final of the Non County Player League will be played between Cappoquin and Gailltir. Cappoquin had beaten both Lismore and Portlaw to reach the final while Gailltir needed a win against Butlerstown last Friday to secure their place in rge final. The date for the final has not been set yet.

U16s Championship

The second round of the U16 championship was held last week.

Section A

De la Salle followed up their win against their first round opponents of Brickey Rangers with another win against Dungarvan this week. Due to a postponed match in Round 1, Gailltir had their first match this week against Cappoquin and won the match. Although only two rounds have been completed in this section, it looks like the strong teams in this section are De la Salle and Gailltir and it will be interesting to see the result when these two teams meet in the next round. Both of these two teams have a large contingent of County U14 and U16 squad players so the match will go along way to deciding overall final table positions.

Section B

After winning their first match in the championship, Tramore faced Lismore in the second round. In a closely contested match the Lismore side were victorious on this occasion. The match between Clonea and Ferrybank has been rescheduled for this week while An Rinn had a bye.

Section C

Roanmore hosted St.Molleran's this week and St. Molleran's proved too strong on this occasion. Tallow hosted Abbeyside and the homeside were victorious.

U12 League

The final round of U12 matches were played this past week and the following is the status of the various sections:

Section A

Butlerstown had mixed form recently, they won their match against St. Anne's but couldn't follow up the result against De la Salle when they lost. In the last week Gailltir then faced Butlerstown and won the match which meant that Gailltir topped the table and are the U12 A champions for 2014.

Section B

Lismore beat St. Molleran's in their final match of the league

Section C

An Rinn continue their winning ways when they beat Tallow. The Roanmore v Cappoquin match has been rescheduled.

Waterford ladies make it six in a row

Waterford intermediate ladies make it six in a row

In a week when a certain five in a row in Croke Park  was on everybody’s lips, Waterford Intermediate ladies football team went one step further by winning the Munster championship for a sixth consecutive year. The girls faced up to the challenge of Limerick in the final conscious of the fact that it had been one major struggle to get the better of the Treatysiders in the round robin series of games played in June. The girls travelled to Rathmore in Co Kerry for the re-match knowing that it would take a major effort to win the title and that the attitude and level of determination had to be right from the word go.

Waterford opened in a whirlwind fashion and with the first attack Michelle Ryan opened the account with a pointed free. Hannah Landers made it two with a well worked effort in the 3^rd minute and following good interplay between Róisín Tobin and Elaine Power, Michelle Ryan kicked her second and Waterford’s third point in the 4^th minute. Limerick came back with a bang, a long through ball seemed to catch the defence unaware and Limerick centre forward had no hesitation in putting the ball in the back of the Waterford net to tie up the game. It could have been worse for the Déise a minute later as a defensive blunder almost resulted in another Limerick major but a free out ensured that the danger was lifted.

For the next 13 minutes from the 6^th to the 19^th minute, Waterford put on a display of football that was indeed first class. Mairead Wall pointed in the 6^th minute and almost immediately Liz Devine was on the end of an excellent pass from Linda Wall to slot over another point. Almost from the kick out a slick inter passing movement started and finished by Elaine Power ended with the Tramore midfielder kicking a great point to stretch Waterford’s lead to three points. Aileen wall got in on the act one minute later with a wonderful point and one of the scores of the day followed in the 10^th minute when Michelle Ryan kicked a wonderful point from 35 yards out for Waterford’s eighth point. A high ball into the Waterford defence caused panic and from the resulting 45 metre kick Aimee Jordan got down well to bring off a great save. In the 12^th minute Hannah Landers added to the Waterford score with a wonderful point from the left wing and Michelle Ryan kicked her fourth point from a free in the 13^th minute.

At this stage the Limerick management made a couple of substitutions in order to stem the tide with Cloda Kirby replacing Siobhán Moloney and Stephanie Carroll replacing Leanne Garvey at centre back. Almost immediately the Waterford scoring machine was in full throttle again when a sublime pass from Aileen Wall to her sister Linda resulted in Linda getting yet another point for Waterford. Michelle Ryan added to the growing tally in the 14^th minute with yet another point and Liz Devine scored another in the 16^th minute having been set up by Mary Foley who intercepted a dangerous Limerick attack and set up the Brickey Rangers forward with a long pass out of defence. In the 17^th minute Michelle Ryan raised yet another white flag to leave Waterford’s tally at fourteen and repeated the act two minutes later to put twelve points between the teams.

From there to half time there was a noticeable improvement in the Limerick play with Niamh Richardson, Marie Curtin (two) and Dympna O Brien all scoring points for Limerick, to leave the half time score Waterford 0-15 Limerick 1-4.Limerick drew first blood in the second half with a Marie Curtin pointed free but Elaine Power cancelled this out with a point in the 7^th minute and followed up with a surging run and another point a minute later. Hannah Landers was on the end of a wonderful pass from Róisín Tobin a minute later and finished the ball to the Limerick net to put 12 points between the teams again and effectively end the game as a contest. Great play from Aileen Wall led to a pass to her Ballymacarbry club mate Michelle Ryan who duly put it over the bar to stretch the lead and Michelle repeated the feat in the 15^th minute for her ninth point of the day.

Manager Pat O Brien rang the changes at this stage and introduced Gráinne Kenneally for Róisín Tobin and Shauna Dunphy for Hannah Landers and following another intricate passing movement Linda Wall scored yet another point. The icing was put on the cake in the 20^th minute when Elaine Power thundered a shot to the net after the Limerick keeper had made a fine save to put 15 points between the teams. Another raft of substitutes was introduced with Liz Devine, Aileen wall and Michelle McGrath called ashore for a well earned rest and being replaced by Caoimhe McGrath, Margaret Revins and Megan O Connor respectively. The game petered out with in fact the last six scores coming from a resolute Limerick team who never gave up trying Marie Curtin kicked four points and Claire O Riordan and Stephanie Carroll chipped in with one each to leave the final score Waterford 2-20 Limerick 1-11.

Michelle Ryan accepted the cup to the delight of the Deise supporters and midfielder Elaine Power was a very worthy recipient of the player of the match award. Waterford now move forward to an All Ireland quarter final and limerick enter in the second round of the qualifiers. Pat O Brien was well pleased after the match and was delighted with the result and especially with the first 20 minutes when 15 scoring chances resulted in 15 points but he admitted that there is still a lot of work to be done in order to achieve All Ireland success. A word of congratulations must go to the Munster Council for their wonderful organisation and to the Rathmore club for the fantastic facilities that made Munster Final day a very special one

Waterford lined out as follows: Aimee Jordan, Nora Dunphy, Gráinne Enright, Mary Foley, Louise Ryan, Karen McGrath, Róisín Tobin, Michelle McGrath, Elaine Power(1-3), Linda Wall (0-2), Mairead Wall(0-1) ,Aileen Wall(0-1), Hannah Landers (1-2) Michelle Ryan (0-9), and Liz Devine(0-2).

Subs Used: Shauna Dunphy for Hannah Landers, Margaret Revins for Aileen Wall, Grainne Kenneally for Róisín Tobin, Megan O Connor for Michelle McGrath, Caoimhe McGrath for Liz Devine.

 

Impressive Carton helps Waterford to back to back wins.

The day started badly for Antrim with their bus breaking down near Dundalk as they journeyed south followed by the inevitable nervous delay. Luckily they weren't too late for their game thanks to a lift from the Derry u16's heading to the same venue to face Cork in the second game of the day.

The red, white and Saffron bus eventually rolled into Donaghmore, Ashbourne but the upheaval showed, however, in Antrim's sleepy start to the game following a hasty warm-up, for within ten minutes Waterford had blasted three goals and two points past them   leaving them with a mountain to climb.

Waterford showed great speed and excellent movement in piling up scores with Megan Dunford and Siebal Harney supreme in midfield and Captain Ashling Power and Niamh Murphy making space and running into the gaps in the Saffron defence with devastating effect.

The Antrim girls tried hard to respond but found themselves chasing shadows for most of the first half. A late rally from Antrim saw Niamh McKee take three successive points from play followed by good scores from Niamh Enright and Tori Edgar to take the edge off Waterford's domination and leave a half -time score of Antrim 0-05 Waterford 4-07

The second half was a much more even affair with Dervla Cosgrove taking an early goal and point for Antrim to give them hope of a revival but the Déise camógs replied with two quick points from full forward Kate McMahon.

Antrim came back almost at once with a stylish goal from Tori Edgar who gave the Waterford defence plenty to think about as she combined with Cosgrove and McKee in a short period of Antrim domination. A breakaway goal for Waterford from Niamh Murphy was another big setback for Antrim but they replied bravely with a couple of points from Dervla Cosgrove   and a goal from Niamh Mckee.

Substitute Sephra O'Connell came on to freshen  up the Antrim attack and managed a quick point but things started to go wrong for Antrim as the game progressed with Waterford taking two more goals in quick breaks while Antrim wasted an alarming number of genuine goal opportunities. Final score Antrim 3-09 Waterford 7-12. Yet it could all have been very different.

Laoch na hImeartha (Girl of the game) goes to Waterford's number 11 Beth Carton"

 Report Courtesy of Declan Drohan

Waterford book Munster Final spot with Limerick

Waterford clinch final place with emphatic win over Tipperary

The Waterford ladies Intermediate football team clinched a place in the Munster final with an emphatic 4-23 to 1-8 win over Tipperary in Carrick Davin’s GAA grounds on Wednesday night last to set up another encounter with Limerick in the final. Waterford came into this as favourites to win but the management team were all out to ensure that complacency would not set in. Gillian O Brien opened the scoring with a pointed free in the first minute of the game which was quickly cancelled out by Aileen Wall in the 4^th minute having run on to a long ball from Shona Curran before slotting it over the bar. Both players were again in action with Shona Curran winning the resulting kick out and Aileen Wall taking the pass and slotting it coolly over the bar. The other Wall sisters Mairead and Linda chipped in with points in the 6^th and 7^th minutes respectively before teenage star Aisling Mc Carthy pulled one back for Tipperary in the 9^th minute.

Waterford hit a purple patch in the next ten minutes or so Ballyduff Upper player Hannah Landers scored three wonderful points and Michelle Ryan pointed a free from a very awkward angle to leave Waterford comfortably in front by five points. Gillian O Brien cut the deficit as she popped over a point for Tipperary in the 17^th minute before her midfield partner rocked Waterford with a wonderful goal to leave the minimum between the teams after 20 minutes. Waterford quickly responded to this setback and a barrage of points from Hannah Landers, Elaine Power, Michelle Ryan and Linda Wall had stretched Waterford’s lead back out to five by the 24^th minute.

The game was virtually over as a contest one minute later when a through ball from Linda Wall found her sister Aileen unmarked in front of goal and she duly despatched it to the net to leave Waterford ahead by eight points. Gillian O Brien got her third point for Tipperary in the 26^th minute but the Waterford machine went into over drive from there to the half time whistle with points from Michelle Ryan (two), Hannah Landers, and Linda Wall (two) before Caoimhe Boles pulled one back on the stroke of half time to leave the score Waterford 1-16 Tipperary 1-5 at half time.

Tipperary needed to get off to a flyer in the second half but it was the Deise girls who were quickest out of the blocks with a goal from Aileen Wall followed by a wonderful point from half back Louise Ryan following a wonderful passing movement involving Shona Curran and Linda Wall. Liz Devine was rewarded for her hard working when she scored a fine individual point on 9 minutes. Tipperary got a consolation point in the 11^th minute when Bernie Ryan scored a wonderful effort from way out the field and this was added to by Gillian O Brien who kicked her fourth point in the 16^th minute. Great team work by Waterford lead to three points from Linda wall, Michelle Ryan and Elaine Power respectively to leave Waterford well in front 2-21 to 1-7.In the 19^th minute Aileen Wall added to her tally on the night with a well taken point.

 

Waterford manager then rung the changes and introduced a number of substitutes: Shauna Dunphy replaced Liz Devine, Caoimhe Mc Grath made her Intermediate county debut replacing Shona Curran and Margaret Revins , Amy Whelan and Megan O Connor also all getting game time. In the 26^th minute Waterford were awarded a penalty and Aimee Jordan made the long trek up and put the ball beyond the Tipperary goalkeeper for Waterford’s third goal. In the 28^th minute sub Shauna Dunphy kicked a good point and in the last minute of the match Waterford were awarded a second penalty and again Aimee Jordan scored her second goal and Waterford’s fourth to close out an emphatic victory on the score line Waterford 4-23 Tipperary 1-8.

Waterford lined out as follows: Aimee Jordan(2-0), Nora Dunphy, Gráinne Enright, Mary Foley, Louise Ryan(0-1), Karen Mc Grath, Róisín Tobin, Shona Curran, Elaine Power(0-2), Linda Wall (0-4), Michelle Ryan (0-5), Mairead Wall(0-1) ,Aileen Wall(2-3), Hannah Landers (0-5) and Liz Devine(0-1).

Subs Used: Shauna Dunphy (0-1) for Liz Devine, Caoimhe Mc Grath for Shona Curran, Margaret Revins for Aileen Wall, Amy Whelan for Michelle Ryan and Megan O Connor for Róisín Tobin

Waterford now move forward to a Munster final date on Saturday next July 12^th meeting Limerick in the provincial decider in Rathmore Co Kerry with a 1: 30 throw in. Speaking after the match manager Pat O Brien was well pleased with the team performance and especially the spread of scorers but is under no illusion of the task that faces his charges in the final. Limerick are a very determined team who have wonderful performers and like Waterford had a big win over Tipperary which will no doubt boost their confidence. In the previous round robin match played between the teams it was nip and tuck all the way and it took a last minute goal from Linda Wall to put the game beyond Limerick after a titanic struggle.

Kilkenny prove too strong for Waterford.

Waterford Intermediates v Kilkenny

The Waterford Intermediate team travelled to play Kilkenny on Saturday last at John Lockes Park, Callan. The team had won their previous two matches in the All Ireland Championship against Meath and Cork getting them off to an excellent start to the 2014 championship season. Kilkenny had beaten Wexford comprehensively the previous week so the Waterford team knew that this would be a difficult match.

Weather conditions changed significantly as the match commenced with heavy rainfall for much of the first half with a strong breeze favouring Kilkenny. The Waterford team competed well for possession from the start but could not work the ball into scoring positions for much of the first half. Kilkenny aided by the strong breeze were continually probing the hard working Waterford defence and conceded 5 points in the first 12 minutes without reply and except for a fine save from Waterford's Becky Kavanagh in goal could have been much worse.

Waterford continued to restrict clear scoring chances to Kilkenny due to the excellent work rate but could not completely curtail scores and conceded a total of 1-07 after 20 minutes. Waterford's first clear chance of the first half occurred after 25 minutes when a Trish Jackman free went narrowly wide. A dramatic change in weather conditions when the rain stopped and wind dropped coincided with a strong finish to the half from Waterford. First up was a goal from Shona Curran when she caught a ball sent in from a Trish Jackman sideline cut under considerably Kilkenny pressure and managed to hand pass the ball into the net. This was quickly followed by three quick Waterford points, two points from Trish Jackman and the final score of the first half when Nicola Morrissey slotted over.

Waterford were trailing by four points at the midpoint break and narrowed the gap at the start of the second half when a Trish Jackman 45 was converted. Unfortunately, this was the closest Waterford came to Kilkenny as they scored 1-02 in the second half while Waterford could only add a further two points from a Trish Jackman free and one from Emma Hannon. 

At fulltime the score stood at Kilkenny 2-09 to Waterford's 1-06. 

Waterford now lie second in the table behind Kilkenny and look forward to meeting Wexford next weekend in their final match of the group stages knowing that a win should secure a semi-final place but Meath's win against Wexford at the weekend still gives them a chance to catch Waterford. 

 

Waterford U16 v Antrim

Waterford U16s continued their winning ways when they beat Antrim last Sunday. ​

 

U18 Championship

The Minor championship is split into two groups. In Group 1 Ferrybank beat Roanmore while the match between Brickey Rangers and Clonea and Cappoquin and St. Anne's needed to be rescheduled.

Group 2 saw two matches completed, both travelling teams had wins on the road. Gailltír travelled to Lismore and won the encounter while De la Salle had the long trek to An Rinn and also won.

The next round of matches are scheduled for July 15th.

 

U16 Championship

The first round of the U16 Championship has now been completed and the following are the results so far:

Section A

De la Salle won their opening match against Brickey Rangers while the Gailltír v St. Anne’s and Cappoquin v Dungarvan matches had to be rescheduled for a later date.

The next round of matches are scheduled for July 8^th and sees Dungarvan host De la Salle, Cappoquin host Gailltír and St. Anne’s host Brickey Rangers.

Section B

An Rinn overcame stiff resistance from Clonea while Ferrybank lost their opening match to Tramore. The next round of matches are scheduled for July 8^th and sees Tramore host Lismore, Clonea host Ferrybank with An Rinn having a bye.

Section C

The only fixture fulfilled in this section was the Modeligo v Roanmore which Modeligo went onto win. The match between St. Molleran’s and Tallow was rescheduled while Abbeyside had a bye. Next round of matches on 8th July sees Roanmore host St. Molleran’s and Tallow host Abbeyside for their first match of the competition while Modeligo have a bye.

 

U12 League

The penultimate round of U12 matches were played this past week and the following is the status of the various sections:

Section A

Gailltir played two matches and won both encounters, first up was their match against Brickey Rangers and then St. Anne's to move them joint leaders with Brickey Rangers.  Results from the Butlerstown v De la Salle and Gailltir v De la Salle will go a long way to deciding final positions in the table.

Section B

Portlaw beat Abbeyside in their Penultimate match. Dungarvan beat Clonea/St. Molleran’s team this week and moves them clear with maximum points in the table Even though Clonea/St. Molleran’s suffered a loss this week they still remain in third spot but mathematically they cannot finish better than this position even if results go their way in the remaining games. Lismore have a couple of outstanding fixtures from previous rounds and results from these matches will have an effect on final table positions. The final weeks fixtures throw up an interesting match where the top two teams of Dungarvan and Portlaw face each other which could determine the overall league winner. The remaining Round 5 fixtures sees Abbeyside play Tramore while Lismore host the Clonea/St. Molleran’s team.​

Section C 

An Rinn continue their winning ways this week when they won their match against St. Anne's and are now 2 points clear at the top of the table. Cappoquin and Roanmore are two points behind but both teams didn't play this week. As we head into the final round of games which sees An Rinn face Tallow, St. Anne's play Ferrybank and Roanmore host Cappoquin. 

 

Non County Player League

The Non County player league is progressing while the Waterford's U16 and Intermediate panels are involved in their respective All Ireland Championships. Group 1 contains St. Anne's, Gailltir and Butlerstown. Matches played so far have seen St. Anne's beat Gailltir while Butlerstown beat St. Anne's. The result of the Gailltir v Butlerstown will determine final table positions.

Group 2 contains Cappoquin, Portlaw and Lismore. The Cappoquin team have had a strong start to the league beating both Lismore and Portlaw leaving them topping the table and into the final to face the top finishers in Group 1.