Munster Championships are launched.

Munster Ladies Launch TG4 Senior and Intermediate Championships

The TG4 sponsored Munster Senior and Intermediate Championships were launched by Munster GAA Vice President Jerry O’Sullivan in the HQ of Munster GAA in Limerick last Monday with players and management from all six counties present. In the Intermediate Championship Waterford will be looking to win a sixth title in a row. The Intermediate Cup was renamed in the memory of late Munster President Edna McDonnell who passed away in the last year. The Tipperary man was well remembered at the launch and the McDonnell family were the invited guests on the night. Speaking on behalf of the family, wife Olive was deeply honoured “It’s amazing and something Enda would have been so honoured about. He simply lived for Ladies football,” She said. However, Waterford Captain Michelle McGrath will be doing their best to see the new cup return to Port Lairge “We have a great spirit going in training and we have a lot of very young players coming through which is really exciting. I think Tipperary will certainly be the ones to beat and they are getting a lot closer each time we play them,” She added Waterford and Limerick were both on the mind of Tipperary Manager John Leahy who is heading into his first Munster championships. “It’s not my first Munster launch but it’s great for Ladies football to be showcasing the best that they have. Since I have got involved, I am amazed at how hard the ladies game has to fight for everything. The girls train as hard as their male counterparts and they get very little recognition for it, tonight is a great start,” he said. Leahy was not making any hasty championship predictions “We only looking at Limerick at the moment and it’s certainly only one game at a time from there” He concluded.

Meanwhile Limerick manager Andy Meaney is under no illusions of the battle he has if he is to guide Limerick to their first every Intermediate title. “It’s a real struggle for us right now. We have taken the approach to give youth its fling and that takes time. Last season we were competitive in both our games but faded badly in the last quarter in both of them. This year we have put in a lot of work to ensure we can live with both Tipperary and Waterford who are a division ahead of us in the league.” He concluded. The action gets under way on Friday June 20th at 7:30 PM with Limerick hosting Waterford in the first Round of the Intermediate Championship at a Limerick venue.

This game against Limerick will be a tough affair and Limerick will come out with all guns blazing as they will be the underdogs in both of their games. The Treatysiders reached the semi final of the league where they were defeated by Antrim who performed much better on the day. Limerick have a large panel training very well at the moment and are powered by Aoife Meaney and Marie Curtin both of whom were selected on the Team of the League.

Waterford had a good league campaign which culminated in that narrow defeat to overwhelming favourites Armagh in the final in Parnell Park. On league form Waterford should have the upper hand but there is a big difference between league and championship. This is a game that Waterford should win and set them up in good stead for their meeting with Tipperary in the round robin series on Wednesday July 2^nd at a Waterford venue.

(Press release details courtesy of Donal Barry Munster Ladies PRO)

 

Waterford Under 14 girls qualify for yet another All Ireland final

Waterford under 14’s fresh from their third Munster success in a row made the long journey to Dublin on Saturday last to face the Ulster champions Antrim at St Peregrines GAA grounds Blanchardstown. In a game which Waterford dominated from the start the result was never in doubt and the Deise girls were very convincing winners on a score line of Waterford 7-12 to Antrims 1-6.This impressive result now qualifies the Deise girls for their third All Ireland final in  a row where they will be up against red hot favourites Galway who had a very convincing win over Laois in the other semi final.