County Senior Final Preview Ballmacarbry v Comeragh Rangers
The blue riband of ladies club football will be fought for and decided in Fraher Field on Saturday next when perennial champions Ballymacarbry take on their near neighbours from the other side of the Comeragh mountains , Comeragh Rangers in what promises to be an intriguing final. This is a repeat of last year’s final in which Ballymacarbry were forced to dig deep in the last twenty minutes when they had to call on every ounce of their experience and football skills to eke out a narrow victory. Comeragh Rangers started that game very brightly and quickly raced into a four points to no score lead, before Danielle Hallahan gave the girls from the Nire Valley a life line with a well taken goal. This goal was ultimately to prove to be a vital one as it ensured that the half time deficit was only two points in favour of the Comeragh girls.Ballymacarbry gradually took over in the second half but were unable to put a determined Comeragh Rangers team away until very late on and it took two wonderful points from Michelle Ryan to ensure that the cup was going back to Ballymacarbry on a score line of Ballymacarbry 1-11 Comeragh Rangers 0-8
Both teams have prepared well for final day with management on both sides fine tuning their preparations in the last few weeks with a number of challenge matches. The teams have met once already in the championship when Comeragh recorded a good victory over the Ballymac girls in the round robin series of games on the score line Comeragh Rangers 3-9 Ballymacarbry 1-12.
Both teams approach this final with confidence and have very contrasting histories. Ballymacarbry were founded in July 1970 possibly one of the first clubs in the country with Winnie Hallinan being their first chairperson. Their first ever match was against Clonmel County Council staff and at the end July of the same year they beat near neighbours Newcastle in a match which attracted over 500 spectators. Comeragh Rangers in contrast are a much newer club being set up in 1999 and has gone from strength to strength in recent years with over a hundred registered playing members at present and being the only club in the county fielding adult teams at both junior and senior level.
Ballymacarbry’s roll of honour at senior level is very impressive by any standards, this year they are looking to win their 33rd county senior championship in a row, the club also leads the list with a total of 10 All Ireland club titles won back in the golden days of Waterford football from 1987-1998.Comeragh’s first adult county title was in 2005 when they beat Ballyduff in the junior grade with Marie Hogan scoring 4-1 in the final and the following year they followed on this success with a win over Brickey Rangers in the Intermediate final which gave the club senior status for the first time.
The two clubs have invested well in a youth policy in the last number of years and as a result have a conveyor belt of young good players who have been expertly coached and the fruits of this are very evident in both squads for the final. Both squads are filled with players with county experience at both adult and under age levels. Ballymac have seven girls who were on the Waterford senior panel this year while Comeragh had four while they also had ten members of this year’s minor panel to Ballymac’s one.
There will be a number of interesting match ups all over the field but both camps are playing their cards close to their chests with their line ups. Comeragh Rangers will depend on the Dunphys, Nora and Anne to lead the way but the will be ably assisted by the likes of Geraldine Power, Áine Power, Kate Hahessey, Mairéad Power,Clodagh Keane, Shauna and Ciara Dunphy, Aoife Dunne and the Murray triplets Katie, Emma and Aoife
Ballymac look to have many aces up their sleeve with the Wall,Ryan and Mc Grath sisters sure to play a major role in this final, these seven players Linda ,Mairead and Aileen Wall,Michelle and Louise Ryan and Karen Mc Grath have a serious amount of inter county experience and will be very prominent in the middle third of the field and will hope to build a platform for victory which sharp shooting forwards like Lauren Guiry will hope to exploit.Ballymac will also be buoyed by the fact that Laurissa Hogan has made a welcome return to football this season
While these clubs have only met three times in senior finals their paths have crossed many times at under age level with honours being shared pretty evenly. Comeragh’s first county final was in 1999 when they contested the first ever under 12 final where they were narrowly beaten by Ballymac. When Comeragh Rangers won their first ever Minor final in 2008 who did they beat in the final? Ballymac of course.The clubs have had multiple successes at different levels this year Ballymac have annexed under 14, 15 and 16 titles. Comeragh have a Junior B title already in the bag but it would be the icing on the cake for either team to win the senior championship.
This game is very hard to call as there are many possible scenarios that will only pan out on the day, will the experience of the Ballymac girls be too much for the Comeragh girls or will the lessons learned by Comeragh Rangers in last year’s final be well learned and put to good use. Saturday will tell and the only place to see it unfold is in Fraher Field at 3:00.
County Manager vacancies
The Waterford Ladies County Board wishes to appoint managers for the 2015 season for the following teams Under 14, under 16 Minor and Intermediate.Completed application forms are to be forwarded to county secretary Edel Curry Glenpatrick, Kilsheelan Clonmel Co Waterford no later than Saturday 20th September
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