'Niamh was a massive loss to us' - Waterford's Mick Boland

Waterford senior camogie manager Michael Boland bemoaned the loss of star forward Niamh Rockett to suspension in the aftermath of their agonising extra-time defeat to Kilkenny in Saturday’s All Ireland Senior Camogie Championship Quarter-Final.

Rockett was handed a three-match ban for a high tackle on Cork’s Laura Hayes in the closing stages of their group encounter on June 28th. Speaking to the media afterward, Boland said even with Rockett - it would’ve been a big ask to lift it again within just six days of that defeat.

“Disappointed, but I would have no complaints. A lot of it probably came down to sore and tired bodies. The Cork match took a lot out of them last week and a six-day turnaround is a very short period. That’s not to take away from Kilkenny. Kilkenny brought everything they had to the table and ended up on the right side of the result.” Boland made the decision to move sweeper Laoise Forrest up field and go one-on-one across the park late on. It did help Waterford salvage extra-time, but was perhaps a factor in allowing Kilkenny to find the net twice in the following 20 minutes.

“We felt at that stage that there was only about 7 minutes to go and there were 2 points in it at that stage - and we felt the only way to beat them was to push up the field because the free player was getting on a lot of ball. We pushed up, got a few scores and turnovers - 100% we had to push up at that stage. The game was in the melting pot.” Katie Nolan’s first goal knocked the wind out of Waterford’s sails and they struggled to recover from that point. However, it was the first half of normal time that frustrated their manager most.

“It was a kick in the teeth”, he admitted. “I’d be more disappointed with the first 30 minutes. We left a lot of scores behind us with the penalty and the free, and a couple of shots that went wide. In a game that tight, the margins are so tight it’s unbelievable - and in fairness to Kilkenny, their conversion rate was a lot higher than ours was.” 

When asked about Rockett’s absence, Boland expressed his disappointment with decision makers and claimed the punishment was inconsistent when compared to similar incidents across codes.

“Niamh was a massive loss to us, let’s be honest”, said Boland. “Not taking away from anyone else - even as a free taker, Beth probably missed 2 or 3 frees there today - and going back to Niamh’s point of view, she had a clumsy tackle last week. Probably didn’t mean it, fell into the tackle and the whole lot. She’s been an ambassador for camogie for so long - I just think it’s disappointing that she was given a three-match ban.” 

“The punishment doesn’t meet the crime. If you go back and look at some of the lads that have been sent off in GAA in the last couple of weeks - they’re getting a one match ban. You can go back to other discrepancies that took place in the last 2-3 years and some of them are after getting off on a technicality. I can’t do anything about it. It wasn’t the ideal build up, we tried to just keep it out of the camp and work on what we had and sometimes you just have to do that.” 

Reflecting on 2026, Boland said his players gave absolutely everything - and though they did not achieve what they had set out to, it was not for a lack of effort.

“This group of players are very good, I couldn’t fault them. Their effort and endeavour is second to none. They give you everything they have and that’s all that they can give you. There’s only so many sucker punches you can take. There’s no complaint. Kilkenny were the better team on the day.”