Five star Déise let loose on Limerick
Waterford's Beth Carton under pressure from Limerick's Muireann Creamer.
Young Waterford fans gathered at the side of the pitch on Saturday afternoon and sprinted on to grab autographs and selfies as soon as the final whistle went. A mini pitch invasion.
In the June sunshine, the Déise’s first win of the 2024 championship was in the bag by half-time. It looked like title contenders against relegation contenders as Waterford beat Limerick for the fifth game in a row.
This encounter was nothing like their low scoring arm wrestle in Munster. The home side hit the net five times but it could have been seven. Waterford’s running game ripped open the Limerick defence.
Mairéad O’Brien got 2-1 in the first half. Four goals in two games for the Modeligo full forward. Three more green flags followed in seven second half minutes from Orla Hickey, Maggie Gostl and Annie Fitzgerald. A debut goal for Gostl.
Hickey’s solo runs from midfield tore through the green wall while Tara Power continues to prosper at centre forward. It was so comfortable for Jerry Wallace’s team that Beth Carton got a breather with eleven minutes to go. She finished on six points. Unsurprisingly, the queue for her signature was the largest.
There is a gulf in class between the top three and the bottom three in Group 1. Waterford enjoyed a 21 point victory while Kilkenny and Tipperary had 24 to spare against Antrim and Derry respectively.
The Déise line-up showed two changes from the three point loss to Tipp as Iona Heffernan and Mairéad Power replaced Rachael Walsh and Alannah McNulty. A first start of the season for Power after returning from Australia.
There was a buzz around Walsh Park with headbands on sale outside the ground. An unusual sight for a camogie fixture. Under 12 Go Games teams from Mount Sion, De La Salle, Butlerstown, Ballyduff Lower, Ferrybank and St Declan’s clapped the Déise onto the field.
Referee Andy Larkin left his coins in the dressing room so yours truly supplied him with a replacement. Lorraine Bray won the toss and elected to play with the breeze towards Keane’s Road. The gap stood at fifteen by the break (2-11 to 0-2). A run from Bray nearly created an early goal for Mairéad O’Brien but the Modeligo attacker let the ball slip out of her grasp.
The number fourteen made no mistake on 19 minutes as she batted to the roof of the Limerick net after approach work from Beth Carton and Mairéad Power. O’Brien added another in injury time when she controlled a Niamh Rockett pass on her stick and flicked the ball past Ciara Mulqueen.
Rockett was on fire in the corner with three points. Carton got five (three frees) while Róisín Kirwan and Tara Power also contributed. Orlaith Kelleher and Caoimhe Costelloe raised white flags for Limerick.
Away boss Joe Quaid had a serious chat with his five selectors before they went back to the dressing room. The former Limerick goalkeeper went for a double substitution but it made no difference.
Rebecca Delee and Carton traded points at the start of the second half. Laoise Forrest then took a knock to the head and she was replaced by Rachael Walsh. Power, O’Brien and Bray were all involved in another free flowing move on 41 minutes as Orla Hickey billowed the bottom corner.
The leaders rang the changes and Maggie Gostl made her senior debut. Within four minutes of her arrival, the minor star took a pass from Rockett and rattled the top corner of the net. She was also part of the build-up for goal number five which was finished by another substitute Annie Fitzgerald. Costelloe and Delee plugged away in vain for the visitors. Gostl was denied her second major in the last minute by Ciara Mulqueen. The bench produced 2-1 as Alannah O'Sullivan struck an injury time point.
A runaway Waterford win but more serious tests to come.
Modeligo goal machine Mairéad O’Brien.
The result was inevitable once O’Brien batted to the net.
The pitch invasion. A rare but wonderful sight at a Déise camogie game.
Waterford will make the short spin to Kilkenny on Saturday.
Mairéad O'Brien 2-1, Beth Carton 0-6 (4fs), Niamh Rockett 0-4 (1f), Orla Hickey, Maggie Gostl, Annie Fitzgerald 1-0 each, Tara Power 0-2, Róisín Kirwan, Alannah O’Sullivan 0-1 each.
Caoimhe Costelloe 0-4 (2fs, 1 45), Rebecca Delee 0-2, Orlaith Kelleher, Caoimhe Lyons, Niamh Ryan 0-1 each.
Brianna O’Regan; Keeley Corbett Barry, Iona Heffernan, Kate Lynch; Bevin Bowdren, Laoise Forrest, Clodagh Carroll; Orla Hickey, Lorraine Bray; Róisín Kirwan, Tara Power, Beth Carton; Niamh Rockett, Mairéad O'Brien, Mairéad Power. Annie Fitzgerald for Kirwan (‘27), Rachael Walsh for Forrest (Concussion Sub, ‘38), Alannah McNulty for Bowdren (‘42), Maggie Gostl for Mairéad Power (‘42), Ciara O’Sullivan for Carton (‘49), Alannah O’Sullivan for O’Brien (‘55).
Ciara Mulqueen; Teresa Dore, Marian Quaid, Aoife Nelligan; Muireann Creamer, Sophie O’Callaghan, Ciara O’Riordan; Rebecca Delee, Ailbhe Larkin; Caoimhe Costelloe, Lizanna Boylan, Orlaith Kelleher; Niamh Ryan, Caoimhe Lyons, Sarah Cosgrove. Subs: Cliodhna Ryan for Nelligan (‘29), Stephanie Woulfe for Cosgrove (HT), Poppy Giltenane for Larkin (HT), Laura Fennelly for Boylan (‘49), Emily O’Halloran for Cliodhna Ryan (‘61).
Andy Larkin (Cork).
