ONE OF the lower-profile fixtures this weekend brings together two of the counties who took part in the cliff-hanger conclusion to the promotion race out of Division Four. In the end it was the footballers of Waterford who topped the table and secured promotion for the first time in the National League.
Sunday’s opponents Clare ended up falling just short with Limerick joining Waterford and winning an enjoyable divisional final between the counties.
Waterford manager John Owens says the past few weeks have been ample opportunity to get over the disappointment of the narrow Croke Park defeat. “It’s gone very well in the past four weeks,” he says. “The players had a fortnight with their clubs immediately after the league final and when they came back they were fresh and, while obviously they hadn’t forgotten about losing, the memory was less raw. They’re in a good mental state.”
Owens was taken aback by how viscerally his team reacted to losing to Limerick so narrowly.
“The dressingroom was devastated . . . It was one of those days and there were chances not taken so feelings were rough. But they knew getting to Croke Park was progress. The league was our priority this year and having achieved promotion we can concentrate on the championship.”
It’s an unusual arrangement of priorities but for a county that has never known life outside the bottom division, the spring achievement of promotion was a huge lift for the team. Their first-round opponents are also the one county Waterford have managed to defeat in championship, albeit just twice in the past 22 years, 2007 and 1988.
Now, with their status rising, they are in with a shout – as are Clare and Limerick, the other county on that side of the draw – of reaching a Munster final, something Waterford haven’t managed for 50 years. “It’s a scary amount of time but tradition is there to be broken. The team is a good combination of hungry young fellas and established players who realise you have to make the most of these chances.”
WATERFORD (SFC v Clare):T Wall; M O'Gorman, T O'Gorman, K Connery; T Grey (capt), S Briggs, E Walsh; M Ahern, T Prendergast; B Wall, C McGrath, W Hennessy; P Hurney, G Hurney, L Ó Lionáin.
