Thomas Keane through his blog Deise Abu previews Waterfords
opening Division 3 round encounter with Offaly. You can follow him on Twitter @thomaskeane1973
Waterford gets their National Ladies Football League
campaign underway on Sunday afternoon when they take on Offaly at the Dungarvan
Club Grounds. The game has a 2pm throw in.
This will be the visitorâs first competitive game at a
National Level since they won last years All-Ireland Junior Football Final,
where they beat Wexford in the final at Croke Park.
In fact 2013 was an excellent year for the Midlands county
who not only won the All-Ireland final but they added the Leinster Junior
Football Championship and the Ladies Football Division Four League titles to
their roll of honour.
They will head to Dungarvan intent on bettering what they
achieved in 2013 and will know that if they were to get off to a good start to
the year that anything is possible as momentum from last year will continue to
flow amongst the panel.
The Midlanders in the mist have some very good players.
Mairéad Daly, Lorraine Kenna, Siobhan Flannery and Emma Corcoran were named in
last years Division Four League team of the year and are players that the
Waterford will have to keep a close eye on.
Corner forwards Mairéad Daly is one player that the
Waterford defence will have to keep a particular eye on as she has a real eye
for goal.
In last years All-Ireland she hit two goals to help her side
win.
Others that Waterford could well be tested by include Emma
Corcoran, Kym Furey as well as Treasa McManus a sister of Offaly football
legend Ciarán.
Waterford last year in the league had a disappointing
campaign.
They were relegated from Division two having won just one
game, but in saying that were somewhat unlucky to be relegated as had Westmeath
who looked impressive in a number of their games beaten Clare in the last game
of the competition, Waterford would have stayed up, but instead Clare won the
game by a very big margin.
Waterford however will know that they can do better.
Two years ago they reached the Intermediate All-Ireland,
where they were beaten by a strong Armagh outfit but they had chances to win.
Last year Waterford won the Jim Kennedy Cup (the female
equivalent of the McGrath Cup) and also won the Munster Intermediate Final for
the fifth year in a row before going on to loose out in the All-Ireland series
at the quarter finals stages of the competition against eventual winners Cavan.
Waterford this year will be without Grainne Enright who has
retired from the Inter county scene having given the county a number of
outstanding years in the county colours.
Ann Dunphy is reported to be carrying an injury that could
rule her out for some time, while duel players Grainne Kenneally and Shona
Curran are missing as they will be assisting Lismore in the All-Ireland Camogie
Club semi final at the same time this game will go ahead.
A number of new faces are included in this yearâs panel.
These include Megan OâConnor, Caoimhe McGrath, Lauren McGregor, Lauren Guiry,
Liz Devine and Shauna Dunphy who have come through from successful underage
teams and they will all add to the panel for this year creating extra
competition for places.
A number of players from the Saint Anneâs Club that had a
very good run in the county championships last year and who went on to
represent the county in Munster could also find themselves included in this
yearâs panel.
Waterford will go into this game on a high as they recently
won the Shield Final of the Jim Kennedy Cup, beating Mary Immaculate College in
the final at Rathkeale.
Having played at a higher level to Offaly should stand to
them in this game.
Players like Nora Dunphy, Michelle Ryan, Linda and Aileen
Wall, Elaine Power, Aoife Landers, Margaret Revins and Hannah Landers could
well have the ability and the experience to help Waterford to a successful year
in 2014 and to bring on the new players that are part of this yearâs panel.
