‘It’s going to take a ferocious effort’ - Boland
Waterford manager Mick Boland is hopeful that his players can pick up a trophy that they deserve. Photo: Noel Browne
Waterford camogie boss Mick Boland believes that his team must front up to Galway’s physicality on Sunday to overcome the All-Ireland champions for the second time this season and take home the Division 1A trophy.
“Don’t be fooled by anyone, Galway are the best team in the country. They’re a serious operation. It’s going to take a ferocious effort. They’re a very physical team; they play on the edge. They’re probably the most physical team in the country.
“Similar to when we went to Athenry, we have to match the ferocity. If we match their ferocity, I think, hurling-wise, we’ve developed a good game plan where we’re moving the ball fairly quickly. We can’t get caught up in muddles and groups. We have to keep it wide, and we can’t make it easy for them to get into a ruck. It will take a massive effort.” That first competitive win against Galway in round two was a shot in the arm for this Déise group.
“They’ve never won in Athenry so it was absolutely super to get the result up there. You can say that they were missing players or they were gone on holiday, but we didn’t get distracted by that. We concentrated on what we were trying to do. The confidence was through to the roof after beating both Cork and Galway, probably the two best teams in the country.”
After last year’s All-Ireland semi-final loss to Cork, Boland felt that they didn’t have enough strength in depth. An area he has seen improvement in during the league campaign to date. “The big thing to take out of the league, more than anything else, is the panel. We’ve used 27 players. We’d be very happy in that sense. Last year, with 45 minutes on the clock, we were nearly level with Cork, and we had nothing to show for the last fifteen minutes.
“Over the last two or three games, the one thing we’ve emphasised is the last fifteen minutes. What can we get out of that? In fairness, we’ve finished all the games strong. What we’ve brought off the bench has made a big difference.”
He hopes that Déise fans will make the short spin up the M9 and turn Nowlan Park white and blue on Sunday. “It’s very important that people come out and support them. The Waterford public has always been good. They always come out and support, whether it is hurling, camogie, whatever it is. The Waterford people are very good when it comes to the crunch.”
His players will leave it all out on the field. “These girls offer so much every year they go out. What they do for Waterford is unbelievable. They can’t really do much more. They only thing they haven’t done is bring back a trophy. On Sunday, we’ll be doing everything to get our hands on that trophy.”
A first league title would be just desserts for this dedicated bunch of Waterford players in Boland’s view. “They’ve soldiered a long time with Waterford; they’ve put everything into this. It would be brilliant for them to have some silverware at the end of it for the work they’re putting in. This group of girls have left nothing unturned this year. Since they came in at the start of the year, they’ve been brilliant. These girls will get rewarded. I do think that if we can get this monkey off the back, you don’t know where this team will go. That’s the thing we need to try and get rid of.”
