Déise Ladies face Kerry in Munster Senior Football Final

In a novel pairing Waterford Ladies meet their counterparts from Kerry in what promises to be a thrilling encounter in the TG4 Munster Senior Final in Mallow on Saturday July 8^th in Mallow GAA complex. This is the first time in 10 years that Waterford will make an appearance in the Munster Senior Final and you have to go back to 2003 when these two teams met at the same stage of the championship with the Kingdom coming out on top by two points.

Waterford enter this final on the back of two very impressive victories already in the Munster championship in the round robin series of games. They beat Kerry in the first round back in May in Fraher Field on a three point margin Waterford 2-9 Kerry 1-9 in a game that was full of good football and excitement all through. In their second match Waterford clinched their place in the Munster final by defeating the reigning All Ireland champions Cork for the first time since 2003 in an epic encounter on the score line Waterford 3-10 Cork 1-11.

This left Kerry and Cork having to battle it out in the last game for the right to play Waterford in the final and Kerry duly prevailed with two late goals courtesy of Sarah Houlihan and Anna Galvin to clinch their spot by two points, Kerry 2-15 Cork 2-13.The final will be an intriguing encounter as it is very hard to call how this game will go. Neither team set the world alight in the LIDL National League at the start of the season and failed to qualify for the semi finals of their respective divisions but both teams have really impressed in the subsequent Munster campaign.

Kerry have a very good side with many well known players in their ranks, Aislinn Desmond is a welcome return at full back for manager Graham Shine. She is a resolute defender and will be well aided by Aisling Leonard, Ciara and Sarah Murphy. In mid-field Aisling O Connell is expected to make a return after injury and up front Sarah Houlihan, Anna Galvin, Amanda Brosnan and Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh will pose problems for the Waterford defence.

Waterford have a number of minor injury doubts also but hopefully these will have cleared up by the weekend. Jessica Fitzgerald has played very well in goal since coming in for the injured Katie Hannon but the Ballyduff girl is now fit again and is training very hard in the hope of making Pat Sullivan’s starting 15. The back line has been a very strong unit with the same 6 starting both championship games so far. In the full back line Megan Dunford, Caoimhe McGrath and Kate McGrath have performed heroics against difficult and talented forwards. In the half line Dearbhaile Ní hAodha, Karen McGrath and Michelle McGrath have been very impressive and Maireád Wall and Emma Murray have worked well in the middle of the field.

Up front it is worth noting that all of the six starting forwards scored against Cork with both Michelle Ryan with five points from play and Aileen Wall with a goal and two points also from play being the top scorers. The other forwards have an eye for a score also Róisín Tobin has got goals against both Kerry and Cork, Gráinne Kenneally got a goal against Cork, Maria Delahunty was top scorer against Kerry with seven points including some wonderful long distance frees while Katie Murray is always good for a vital score or two in every game.

Kerry will go into the match as favourites as they have competed in Division 1 of the league and have been in action most recently. Waterford are well prepared, have the ability and know-how to perform well on the day and are now playing with a self confidence that they can beat any given team on any given day. This will be an intriguing clash of two good footballing teams and the Déise ladies are well capable of claiming yet another major scalp and take Munster honours.

Throw-In, at the Mallow GAA complex for the TG4 Munster Final is on Saturday July 8^th at 3:15.