Another month has passed so its time to name
someone involved in ladies sports in Waterford who achieved something special
in the month of November and name them as the unofficial Women’s Sports Woman
for the month.
From the outset, I must admit I took my eye
of the ball a little in the month of November and did not keep as close eye on
who was achieving what, so this month lets do something different.
Lets begin with a question.
How many All-Stars was Waterford won down the
years. Many on the ball will know that since 1974 Waterford have won 32
All-Stars in hurling, the most recent being Noel Connors, Tadhg de Búrca and
Maurice Shanahan, the first being Portlaw’s John Galvin.
In between Kevin Moran, John Mullane, Michael
Walsh, Eoin Kelly, Ken McGrath, Tony Browne, Dan Shanahan, Stephen Molumphy,
Eoin Murphy, Paul Flynn, Fergal Hartley, Jim Greene and Mossie Walsh have all
being honoured for their exploits by those charged with selecting the team of
the year each year.
Some supporters will know that prior to the
All-Star Awards as we know them started to be presented, in the 1960’s the Cu
Chulainn Awards were presented for a number of years. Austin Flynn won three of
these awards and Larry Guinan, Mick Flannelly and Phil Grimes all won one award
each in the life time of these awards.
But Waterford’s awards don’t stop there.
Down the years Waterford have won All-Stars in both Ladies Football and Camogie
and it is important that we hold the holders of these awards in the same esteem
that we hold those that have won them in hurling as the effort that our female
players put in is the same and sometimes greater than what our males put in.
Waterford’s first lady to win an All-Star was
back in 1986 and was won by Marie Crotty (Ballymacarbry) in the centre forward
position.
That was the year that the Ladies Football
All-Ireland Finals were first played at Croke Park and as the Junior final was
played before the senior final, Marie in addition to being Waterford’s first
female All-Star she also holds the distension of being the first lady to score
in a football All-Ireland Football Final to be played at G.A.A. Headquarters.
Since then, Waterford have added many other
All-Stars in Ladies Football, with some of Waterford’s all time greats of the
sports from the great team of the 90’s winning many awards.
Before that great team came along however,
Waterford had other players that won All-Stars in their first years playing ion
the senior grade.
Ann Fitzpatrick (Ballymacarbry) was selected
in the number 5 shirt on the All-Star team selected in 1987.
1988 saw the amount of awards won in Ladies
football won over doubled as three Waterford players were selected in the team
of the year.
Dolores Tyrell (Ballymacarbry) was selected
in the number four shirt, June Whyte (Kilrossanty) was selected at centre back and
Marie Crotty (Ballymacarbry) was selected at centre forward.
There was another three All-Stars for
Waterford in 1989. This time all three awards went to members of what was a
superb Ballymacarbry Club Side at the time as Anne Dunford was selected at
number four while Áine Wall and Bernie Ryan were selected at numbers ten and
eleven respectfully.
With Waterford now beginning to bring through
one of the most exciting groups of players ever to grace the Inter County
Ladies Football scene, in 1990 three more All-Stars followed for Waterford as
Ann Fitzpatrick was selected at Centre Back and Áine Wall and Marie Crotty were
selected in the wing forward positions.
In 1991 Waterford won the first of five
All-Ireland Senior Ladies Football Finals in the 1990’s and it was only fitting
that Waterford had the highest representation on the team of the year with five
members of the All-Ireland winning team named on the team of the year.
Martina O’Ryan was selected at full back,
Anne Dunford was named at number four, Anne Fitzpatrick at seven, Marie Crotty
in the middle of the field and Áine Wall was selected at Full forward. All five
were members of the Ballymacarbry club.
Waterford retained the All-Ireland title in
1992 and again had the highest representation on the team of the year with
five. Twin sisters Martina and Geraldine O’Ryan were named at Full back and
Centre Forward respectfully, Kilrossanty’s June Whyte was picked at number four
and Bernie Ryan and Áine Wall were selected in the centre of the field and at
full forward.
Waterford lost the 1993 Munster Final to
Kerry and at the end of the year with no visit to GAA Headquarters that year,
Waterford had to do with one All-Star as Áine Wall was named in the number 15
shirt.
Waterford won a third All-Ireland final in
1994 and again at the end of the year won five All-Stars as Martina O’Ryan and
Noreen Walsh were selected at Full Back and Centre Back, Caithriona Casey was
selected at number 12 while Fiona Crotty a younger sister of Marie and Áine
Wall were picked in the full forward line.
In 1995 a fourth All-Ireland Final was won
for Waterford and so too was a record seven All-Star Awards (for Waterford) was
won.
Anna Lisa Crotty was selected as the
goalkeeper of the year and Regina Byrne and Cleona Walsh who like Anna Lisa Crotty
were part of the Ballymacarbry club was named in the corner back positions and
Dunhill’s Julie Ann Torpey was also selected in the back line at number seven. Marie
Crotty and Caithriona Casey were picked in the half back line and Geraldine O’Ryan
was picked in the number 13 shirt.
Waterford won four All-Stars in 1996. Anna
Lisa Crotty was again picked as the goalkeeper of the year, Noreen Walsh was
picked at full back and for the second year in a row Julie Anne Torpey was
picked at number seven, while Áine Wall was named in the number fifteen shirt.
Anna Lisa Crotty, Noreen Walsh and Julie Anne
Torpey were selected in the 1997 team of the year in the same positions that
they filled twelve months earlier and there was two more All-Stars that year
for Waterford as Geraldine O’Ryan and Caitriona Casey were picked in the corner
forward positions.
Waterford won a fifth All-Ireland Final in
1998 and with it won six All-Stars. Siobhan O’Ryan was picked at full back and
Noreen Walsh was picked at number four while Anna Lisa Crotty won a fourth
award in a row but in a new position at number five and there was an all
Waterford full forward line as Rebecca Hallahan, Aine Wall and Geraldine O’Ryan
all named in the team of the year.
Waterford won four All-Stars in 1999 as
Siobhan O’Ryan and Anna Lisa Crotty were selected in the same positions as
twelve months earlier and Caitriona Casey and Geraldine O’Ryan were picked in
the numbers twelve and fifteen shirts.
Waterford won four All-Stars in 2000. Oliva
Condon was picked at number four, Martina O’Ryan was picked at centre back,
Anna Lisa Crotty was a winner again in 2000 but this time in the middle of the
field and Old Parish’s Mary O’Donnell was selected at number twelve.
After this the great Waterford team of the
1990’s began to break up as more and more players began to retire. However for
a while the All-Stars continued to come Waterford’s way.
In 2002 Waterford won four All-Stars as
Tramore’s Donna Frost and Na Déise’s Olivia Butler (nee Condon) were selected
in the former back positions and the exploits of Julie Ann Torpey again caught
the eyes of the judges as she was again picked at number seven and Mary O’Donnell
was picked out for some outstanding performances in the middle of the field.
In 2003 two former All-Stars for Waterford
Anna Lisa Crotty and Mary O’Donnell was selected in the team of the year at
wing back and centre field respectfully while Clashmore’s Mary O’Rourke was
also named in the team of the year at number thirteen.
A third All-Star followed for Mary O’Donnell
in 2006 when she was picked again in the centre of the field, and in 2007
Rebecca Hallahan became the last Waterford player to win an All-Star in Ladies
Football when selected at number two in the team of the year.
In Camogie, All-Stars are a much newer
concept than in Ladies Football and are often won mainly by players playing in
the senior grade.
However for those that are playing in the
intermediate and junior grades of intercounty camogie there is soaring stars
where players in these grades are judged on players playing with sides in a
similar standard to they are playing in themselves.
Waterford have not won any All-Stars in
Camogie to this point but have won a number of Soaring Stars.
After Waterford lost out to Offaly in the
2009 All-Ireland Junior Final when the team of the year was picked, Waterford
had two players named in the best team of the year as Áine Lyng was selected at
wing forward and Karen Kelly was picked at full forward.
Twelve months on Waterford were in the Junior
All-Ireland final again but the final outcome was the same as in 2009 as
Waterford lost out to Antrim after a replay. However, Waterford players
involved in that team did enough to have four named in the team of the year.
Shona Curran was picked at full back, Trish
Jackman was picked at centre back, Jennie Simpson was named at number seven and
for the second year in a row Áine Lyng was named in the team of the year, this
time at centre forward.
Waterford made it third time lucky in 2011 as
the side managed by Mark Cooney won the Junior All-Ireland final beating Down
in the final at Croke Park.
Seven players of that winning side were named
in the team of the year as Aisling O’Brien was named as the goalkeeper of the
year, Emma Hannon and Jennie Simpson was named in the full back line, Gráinne
Kenneally was named at wing back, Trish Jackman was picked in the middle of the
field on the team of the year, Nicola Morrissey was picked at centre forward
and Karen Kelly was picked at full forward.
For both Ladies Football and Camogie in
Waterford 2015 was a great year as the two sides won Intermediate All-Ireland
finals two weeks apart at Croke Park both against Kildare.
For both sides, they were honoured with three
players from the respective panels being named for awards recently.
In Ladies Football, Ballymacarbry’s Linda
Wall and her younger sister Aileen were named in the 45 names in with a chance
of being named on the team of the year along with Abbeyside’s Maria Delahunty.
None of the three made the overall team of
the year, but in just getting named in the final selection was a great
achievement.
In Camogie, Cappoquin’s Lorraine Bray, De La
Salle’s Beth Carton and Gailltir Trish Jackman won intermediate Soaring Star
awards for their efforts during the course of the year.
All this said, the winner of the Unofficial
Waterford Sports star of the month has a connection with the above.
In both Camogie and Ladies Football Waterford
players were named as the Intermediate players of the year during the month of
November.
In Camogie Trish Jackman was the winner after
excellent year.
She was part of the Waterford team that won a
Division two league final in May and in September won an All-Ireland
Intermediate title and in between she won a seventh All-Ireland Puc Fada in a
row.
In Ladies Football Aileen Wall was also
outstanding in the Waterford shirt, helping Waterford reaching the Division
three league final for the second year in a row, where Pat Sullivan’s charges
had to settle for second best against a good Sligo side, but they won the one
that matters most at the end of September as she hit 2-2 for Waterford in Croke
Park against Kildare as Waterford won the right to compete in the Senior
Championship in 2016 for the first time since they were relegated in 2008.
Both Trish and Aileen were named as the
Intermediate Camogie and Ladies Footballer of the year at both Associations
All-Star Awards night during November and as recognition are this months award
winners, the prize for which is some extra publicity for their chosen sport on
here.
