The end of another month has come and its
time to find out who is my Waterford Female Sports Star of the Month.
Last November and December when I first began
to get ideas of a competition like this, I thought to myself that at the end of
each month it would be easy to pick one person out who did something on or off
the field of play, who have something to do with women’s sport in Waterford but
to be honest it is much harder than you would think.
In January a month you would expect to be
quite in sporting circles I had to think long and hard before picking Emily
Foley as the person that deserved the greatest praise for what she was at. In
February it was even harder to pick just one person eventually settling on
Ferrybank A.C’s Kelly Proper as the winner.
As the year goes on and more and more sports
come into play, it is again hard to pick just one person who has done something
that stands out above the rest be it on the field of play or off it.
Naturally as you will see from the first few
names mentioned there is some real stand out performers and some top names to
choose from, but who will be the winner. Will it be someone as well known as
Kelly Proper last month, or will it be someone like Emily Foley who would not
be known to as many that won in January. To find out, you have to keep reading.
As in January and February it has to be
pointed out that unlike other such competitions, there is nothing out of
winning this competition apart from getting a mention from me, and what else
would anyone else want (LOL).
West Waterford Athletic Club’s Diane Behan
made a lot of headlines at the start of the month.
She took part in a gruelling event in Donegal
which saw here take part in a multi discipline event, which included 15km of
Kayaking, 166km of cycling, 5km of mountain running and 64 km of road and trial
running.
There was no financial gain for the 63 that
took part which included 5 women, 42 of the starting figure finished the
course.
All took part with one thing in mind, to help
raise funds for Self Help Africa.
Setting off at 6am without a break the West
Waterford AC Athlete surpassed all her expectations, finishing the course in a
time of 18 hours, 42 minutes and 57 seconds.
She was the first woman to cross the finish
line and eight overall of the 42 that finished, a truly amazing achievement.
The first person over the line finished the same course in a time of 15 hours,
5 minutes and 5 seconds.
Another to impress over the course of March
was swimmer Shauna O’Brien.
The UCD student took part at the Swim Ulster
International meet at Banger.
The Kilmeaden lady returned home from the
meet with two goal medals to add to her already impressive collection of
titles.
In the 100m Butterfly she finished in a time
of 1 minute 0.54 seconds, which was just .01 outside the Irish Record.
She did however manage to break one record
and to break it in some style.
She finished the 50m Butterfly competition in
a time of 27.10 seconds, which beat the previous record time of 27.33 set by
Melanie Houghton last year and was also inside the qualification time of 27.14
seconds which qualifiers her to take part in the World University Games which
takes place in Gwangju in South Korea during July.
Rugby’s Niamh Briggs also impressed in March.
The Abbeyside woman captained Ireland to win the Women’s Six Nations, winning
the competition in the last game where they beat Scotland 70-3 at the Broadwood
Stadium in Cumbernauld which is located North East of Glasgow.
The game was one where Niamh won her 50th
Cap for Ireland, a game that will long be remembered in the Briggs household.
She registered 23 of Ireland’s points which consisted of 1 try, 6 conversions
from 11 try’s and 2 penalties.
Hockey is a sport that littles little
coverage in the media, so the performance of Kristen Lyons of Waterford Hockey
Club may have been missed by many. Playing against Clonmel, she helped her side
to a 5-3 win and in the process scored an impressive hat-trick.
Camogie again made lots of headlines in March
in Waterford.
Our Lady of Mercy’s won the All-Ireland
Junior ‘D’ Colleges title in the first half of the month beating Saint
MacDara’s from Dublin on a 2-8 to 1-4 score line. Aisling Madigan was judged to
be player of the match, scoring two points while Ciara Jackman also impressed
in the third game in a row hitting the same tally.
Lismore Camogie Club visited Croke Park for
the second year in a row on Club All-Ireland Final day. While defeat was their
lot this year at the hands of Piltown, the West Waterford side none the less
had some stand out performers in Grainne Kenneally who caused the South
Kilkenny side many problems on the day, Aoife Hannon was top scorer with 1-7
while in defence Marie Russell and Sarah Fenton impressed a lot. Part of the
winning Piltown team was a Waterford lady Mairead Power who plays Ladies
Football with Comeragh Rangers and with the Waterford Intermediate panel.
And Waterford’s Intermediate side also
impressed a lot during the month with Beth Carton in her first year involved
with the side putting in some top drawer performances. Others to stand out for
Waterford in March when it comes to Camogie were Dawn Power, Trish Jackman,
Lorraine Bray, Jennie Simpson and Claire Whyte.
The Waterford Camogie County Board under
their new chairperson Ita Murphy also deserve great praise for what they are
doing over the past few months since they were put in place.
They have undertaken a lot of work and many
are now getting to hear and see what is happening. They recently held a very
successful awards night at the Park Hotel in Dungarvan where the victorious members
of last years All-Ireland under 16 and Minor teams were presented with their
All-Ireland medals by Offaly Legend Michael Guignan. If you want to keep up
with what is happening in Camogie, new PRO Róisín Hartley as set up a Facebook
page which is proving to be popular and very informative. Check out Waterford
Camogie if you want to find out what is happening.
In Ladies Football Waterford too impressed.
They recorded wins over Tipperary and Roscommon while bottom of the table
Longford gave a walkover to Waterford who had already qualified for the semi
finals with some style ahead of their penultimate round of games in the league.
The side had many good performers in these games, but Sinead Ryan who has
returned to the setup this year playing in the full forward line playing a
vital roll.
Dungarvan’s Under 16 Ladies Soccer team also
had a memorable month in March qualifying for the Quarter Finals of the FAI
Cup. On route to the game they had an excellent 2-1 win over Aisling/Annacotty
from Limerick.
Atlanta Raher hit the first of the Old Boro
goals, but it was cancelled out with an effort from the Limerick side.
Dungarvan however would strike a late goal through the multi-talented Kaiesha
Tobin to book a quarter final against Killarney Celtic who have already beaten
another Waterford side Ferrybank along the way.
So who is the person that deserves greatest
praise for what they are at in March? Is it one of those already mentioned or
is it someone that has not got a mention as what happened in January and February?
Most of us have heard the old Irish phrase Mol an óige agus
tiocfaidh sí. It is important that our youth are praised when they deserve it
and when we look after them as we should, it stands to the communities that we
live in.
In March one young lady
took a great undertaking and deserves a lot of praise for her efforts.
As we all know many
of the vital services that many of us need at different times are suffering
from a lack of funds. The health service is one such service.
Gailltir Camogie
player Alanah O’Sullivan took upon herself with the help of Trish Jackman (who I
am sure wont mind me making Alanah the overall winner this month for her work)
ran an under 12 and 14 camogie tournament at Ballygunner Camogie Club on March 21st.
Six clubs took part
Gailltir the host club, Thomastown from Kilkenny, Saint Martin’s from Wexford,
Camross from Laois and Waterford clubs Portlaw and Saint Annes.
The Tournament took
in €2,763-90 which will be handed over to the Oncology Ward at University
Hospital Waterford.
In every sport there
is a place for the skills of everyone. Not everyone makes it in their chosen
sport for whatever reason. We see many get involved in administration from a
young age. Others leave it till their career is over. Alanah has already shown
that she has the ability to be a capable organiser which could well again come
to the fore in the years ahead.
