Déise Ladies Seek All-Ireland Glory

All Ireland Final Preview

Waterford v Roscommon-Nenagh, Wednesday 29^th July 7:00

All roads from the Deise lead to Nenagh on Wednesday next when our under 16 ladies football team take on the Connacht champions Roscommon in what promises to be a pulsating match with All Ireland honours at stake. Waterford following their Munster championship final victory, defeated Kildare in an epic semi final by four points with the result in doubt until the very last minutes. Roscommon have qualified for this stage of the competition by easily defeating Leitrim on the score-line 3-10 to 1-4 in the Connacht final and then disposing of a very fancied Cavan team by nine points in the All Ireland semi final.

The Deise selection comprises of girls from 13 different clubs as far apart as Ballyduff in the West to Gaultier in the East and all places in between and have come together under the watchful eyes of the management team of Johnny Troy, Margaret Foley, Fionnula Flynn and Ger Curran to gel into a formidable group of players with a very strong work ethic.

Waterford started their campaign with a comfortable win over Limerick, followed by a hard fought two point win over Clare and a 4-12 to 4-7 win over Tipperary in the Munster final. Then followed that wonderful semi final win over Kildare, in a game that had everything with two well matched teams determined to give everything to the cause.

Rosie Landers is an excellent goalie and has a very hard working and determined set of backs in front of her. Becky Hogan, Emma Gildea and Edwina Curran are very dependable in the full line and are very tight marking making life as difficult as they can for the opposing forwards. The half back line of Abbie Dalton, Mary Kate Curran and Maeve Ryan are an excellent platform for setting up attacks with their driving runs and long clearances out of defence. In the mid-field area Hannah Power, Shauna Fitzgerald, captain Chloe Fennell and Hannah de Paor are strong and good in their distribution of the ball into the forwards and are also well capable of popping up with a score or two when needed.

The forward line on their day are a handful for any defence with Katie Duggan Sullivan, Kate Lynch, Kaiesha Tobin, Abi Dunphy, Annie Fitzgerald, Keeley Corbett Barry and others  all chomping at the bit to tear the defences apart. A team is only as good as its panel of players and all the players on the bench are well capable of making an impact when they are introduced.

Roscommon will be no push-over and have many stars themselves. Rebecca Cox is a very capable goalie and Shannon Dowd, Amy Curley ,Roisin Wynne and Emer McNally are part of a very strong back line. Mikaela Mc Hugh and Heather Payne are good in the middle of the field and the Waterford defence will have to play to the peak of their potential to keep forwards of the calibre of Aoife Gavin, Niamh Shanagher, Niamh Brady and Sinead Farrell quiet.

It promises to be an enthralling game of football and if Waterford play to their very best they should have enough experience and craft to take the All Ireland title back to the Deise.

Throw-in, in Nenagh is at 7:00 with James Flood in charge of proceedings.