“We can compete with the big three”
Waterford manager Jerry Wallace was very proud of his players depsite the result in Sunday's Munster Senior Camogie Final in Thurles. Photo: Inpho.
Jerry Wallace believes that his Waterford team are moving in the right direction despite another loss to Cork in a major final. The Midleton man was upbeat when he emerged from the Old Stand dressing rooms on Sunday.
“The message was that everyone in Waterford is very proud of them. What a turnaround from twelve months ago in a national final. Ok, we didn’t win the match but we made it some competitive game out there today. I think the goal was the key. We were hunting that goal, we brought it back to two points. We got all the way to the final so it’s another building experience for the girls in that dressing room. Naturally, they’re so disappointed but we’re very proud of them. We only lost it in the dying minutes. The substitutions from Cork added a bit of impetus to them.” Wallace maintains that they are up there with the best camogie teams in the country. “The big positive we took out of it is that we can compete with the big three which are Kilkenny, Cork and Galway. That was Cork there today and we were very close to them. I said it to the girls inside, we need to learn from this defeat today and be better the next day. We have five big games coming up in the All-Ireland championship.”
Beth Carton felt that they didn’t play to their potential. “Any time you lose any final, you’re very disappointed. Look, it was a big day for us after the last time we played Cork in a final. It’s good to get out there but it wasn’t our best performance. We probably left a bit behind out there.” Like the league game against the Rebelettes, they failed to rattle the back of the net. “We didn’t really get many opportunities so that’s disappointing more than anything. There was a sweeper in play so it was a bit harder.” Wallace paid a glowing tribute to the De La Salle All Star. “Beth Carton is exceptional. Her score in the first half just before half time and her score in the second half over on the left hand side playing towards the Killinan End. If we saw those scores in the men’s match, we’d be in awe of them. Beth is Beth. She is so calm, she is so cool, she is so nice, she is so good to everyone.” Waterford will tackle Tipperary for the third time this season in Saturday’s All Ireland opener. “Tipp will bring the best out of us and we’ll bring the best out of them again. As I said to the girls, the Limerick, Derry and Antrim games are as important to us as the Kilkenny and Tipperary games. All of those games needed to be treated with respect. Our goal now is to get back into the quarter final of the All-Ireland.”
