2015 was a not a good year for Camogie in
Waterford. It was a great year.
2015 will be remembered by those that follow
the game within the county for a long time to come. It will be the year that
the side under the guidance of Sean Fleming won a Division Two National League
and All-Ireland Intermediate Championship double.
In both wins Waterford had a number of key
players. Along the way on different days, different players emerged as the hero
of the day.
One player however more than most stood out
over the course of the year.
We all know of the commitments put in by the
leading players on sides fighting it out to win the Liam McCarthy or Sam
Maguire cups each year.
But what is often forgotten is that the same commitment
and sometimes an even greater commitment is put in by players on other inter
county teams.
And in 2015 the commitment of Waterford
camogie star Trish Jackman went above and beyond the call of duty, a commitment
that would be not be matched by many others.
The Gailltir Club player is widely regarded
as one of the greatest players of the modern era.
Still in her early 20’s Trish is a player
that seems to be around for ever and could well still have an number of years
left playing at the top level.
She was part of the Waterford under 16 panel
that won an All-Ireland ‘B’ Final back in 2003 beating Armagh in O’Moore Park
in Portlaoise.
She was park of the Waterford team that
contested three Junior All-Ireland Finals in a row between 2009 and 2011,
winning the latter. She was part of the Waterford intermediate panel that
reached All-Ireland semi final on each year between 2012 and 2014 and in 2015
was part of the All-Ireland and National League winning teams.
Trish’s commitment to the game does not lie
just with these teams. She has helped WIT to numerous Ashbourne Cups in recent
years and has also won seven All-Ireland Puc Fadas in a row and previous to
this finished as runner up on more than one occasion.
When it comes to monthly awards within the
GAA, the ladies are often forgotten about, but in 2015 in Waterford, those
playing with the different Waterford teams made it very difficult for them to
be overlooked when it came to the prestigious WLRfm/Grandville Hotel GAA
awards.
Beth Carton was selected in May after she
helped Waterford win the National League Final against Laois in Carlow. In August
Trish Jackman was selected after winning her seventh All-Ireland Puc Fada title
and also after helping Waterford fight back from being nine points down against
Meath in the All-Ireland Semi Final at Nowlan Park to win by one and Aileen
Wall was selected in September after she helped Waterford win the All-Ireland
Intermediate Ladies Football Final against Kildare meaning Waterford will
compete in the senior grade once more in 2016 for the first time since they
were relegated at the end of 2008.
Last Saturday night at the Grandville Hotel
in Waterford City the overall award for 2015 was presented and when former
Kilkenny hurler DJ Carey announced that Trish Jackman was the overall winner,
there was not many if any that could argue that she was a worthy winner.
The Gailltir club player is studying in the
United Kingdom at the University in Lincoln and over the course of 2015 made 48
trips over and back across the Irish Sea to play and train with her colleagues
on the Waterford panel, at times jumping into a car straight after a match or
training session and heading for the airport to catch a flight back to her
base.
All-Ireland, National League, Puc Fada and
WLRfm/Grandville Hotel awards were not the only ones that the Gailltir player
won this past 12 months, as she was one of three Waterford players to win
Soaring Intermediate Stars (All-Stars) back in November making 2015 a
remarkable year for Trish Jackman.
Any young person out there who wants to make
it in their chosen sport be they be male or female could do worse that to model
themselves on Trish Jackman and if they were to show the same commitment there
is no reason why in the future why they cannot emulate what she has achieved
not just in 2015 but in the last number of years.
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