by Kevin Egan
The departure of manager Jerry Wallace at the end of the Very League and the subsequent postponement of their Munster final against Cork in the lead-up to the historic Special Congress decision to allow camogie players the choice between wearing shorts or skorts, had Waterford in the spotlight without ever pucking a ball.
On Saturday, however, they were the story of round two in the Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Championship for all the right reasons, front and centre in another piece of history that was this time all their own.
Thanks to a strong finish, the Déise recorded their first ever championship win over Kilkenny, and their first win in ten attempts in any competition since returning to senior a decade ago, on a 0-17 to 0-10 scoreline in front of a large crowd at UPMC Nowlan Park.
“They’ve been a monkey on our back for a long time, so to get over the line today has everyone delighted,” said Niamh Rockett (above) in her interview with Off The Ball, after she scored nine pints to go with Beth Carton’s four.
“We were bullied against Kilkenny in the League. They were standing over us, really loud and really going for it from the get-go,” she added, suggesting that regardless of the fixture, local rivalries will always come to the fore.
“Any management changeover in mid-season is difficult. But the thing about it is, most of the management were in there before, so there was continuity, there was no real change,” said Mick Boland, who stepped in to replace Wallace.
Waterford manager, Mick Boland (Photos: INPHO/Leah Scholes)
“After Jerry stepped back, the girls pushed us to take over, and it was seamless. We targeted this match at the start of the year, and the result was unbelievable, the performance was very good.
“There were patches there in the second half where we lost our way, but we pulled it back and we got the tide going our way again. We missed a lot of opportunities there today, our conversion rate, especially when it came to goals, was poor. We probably left four goals behind us and on bigger days you won’t win those matches.”
Another local derby will be the focus of the fixture list in round three, with Clare set to play host to Limerick in Group 1. After Clare beat Wexford in the first round, Limerick followed up with a 1-10 to 0-10 win against the Yellowbellies in Rathkeale on Saturday, their victory hinging on a stunning Sarah Gillane save before half-time and Laura Southern’s goal four minutes into the second half.
While that result leaves Wexford’s hopes of securing a knockout place hanging by a frayed thread and instead, focused now on avoiding relegation, the winner of next Saturday’s fixture in Ennis will be all but assured of a quarter-final berth at least.
“Next weekend is basically a preliminary quarter-final. Whoever wins goes through so the stakes don’t get much higher,” said Limerick manager Joe Quaid.
“We suffered a terrible defeat last week (against Cork) but maybe we took our eye off the ball as well. We were never going to beat Cork, but since the draw, this is the game we’ve been focusing on for the past six months.
“We knew we had to win, we didn’t care if we won ugly or great. The workrate out of them girls today was just phenomenal, talk about having each other’s backs! Ciara O’Riordan got a block in late on with her back, they died for each other on the pitch today and they are a great bunch.
“We’ve 15 new girls on the panel this year and for them to achieve that is unreal. They train every bit as hard and give as much commitment as the Limerick senior hurlers and a day like today, in front of their supporters, is just fantastic. They got to show the people of Limerick what kind of characters they are.”
Cork’s Katrina Mackey scores a goal
In the same group, All-Ireland champions Cork continue to cast a long shadow over the rest of the field. Clodagh Finn, Amy O’Connor and Katrina Mackey all hit goals in the first ten minutes of what should have been a tough test in The Ragg against Tipperary.
That set them up for a comfortable afternoon, with O’Connor going on to score 1-13 (1-5 from play) in a 3-21 to 1-9 hammering.
“It was a very good performance. We started well and set our stall out early,” said O’Connor, who picked up the Player of the Match accolade.
“There will be a couple of things for us to work on, particularly in terms of how we set up for the puckouts and our efficiency in the second half, but overall we can be happy.
“Our full-forward line at the moment, you have seven or eight players and any of the seven or eight could play. When people are coming on and performing as well as Kate Wall and Ciara O’Sullivan did there, it’s great to see Sorcha (McCartan) back, everyone’s under pressure all the time. If you don’t perform, you won’t play.”
Cork skipper Méabh Cahalane blocks a shot from Tipp’s Grace O’Brien
The other game of the day was in Owenbeg, where Mairéad Dillon, Aoife Donohue, Sabine Rabbitte and Caoimhe Kelly got Galway’s goals in a facile 4-25 to 0-5 Group 2 win over Derry.
“We had a really good spread of scorers. We had a good performance, and we’re very happy to have two wins out of two and be out to a good start in the group,” said manager Cathal Murray.
“We got a lot out of the game, we’ve a two-week break now before the Kilkenny game which is shaping up to be a massive match after their result today. They’ll be fired up and eager to bounce back.”
