Galway seniors to have too much class for Waterford

By Eanna O’Reilly

THE Galway senior camogie team will strive to take a step closer to championship glory when taking on Waterford in the All-Ireland quarter-final at Semple Stadium, Thurles (7:15pm) on Saturday.

Cathal Murray’s team will hope to take their recent good form into this match against a Déise side who have impressed during their own championship campaign. The Waterford ladies recorded convincing wins over Dublin, Clare and Meath and were narrowly defeated by Tipperary in a replayed fixture.

They were also very competitive against All-Ireland champions Cork in their most recent game, putting it up to the Rebels for long stages before the champions finished strongly to win.

Beth Carton was Waterford’s best player on the day, and they will hope for another big performance from the De La Salle star on Saturday evening. The Déise will also look to the likes of Caoimhe McGrath, Shona Curran and captain Niamh Rockett to boost their hopes of causing an upset.

Galway go into this game with three wins from four and an impressive score difference of 6-33 at the end of the group stage. The top contributors to the scoring total so far have been Ailish O’Reilly (4-14, 0-6 frees/45’s), Carrie Dolan (0-17, 0-15 frees/45’s), Noreen Coen (1-9) Aoife Donohue (0-7) and Niamh Kilkenny (0-5).

Catherine Finnerty (3-3) has also shown an eye for goal to put herself in contention for a place in the forward line. The management have alternatively positioned Niamh Kilkenny and Aoife Donohue between midfield and the half forward line this year, so it will be interesting to see how they line out on Saturday.

See full preview in Connacht Tribune Sport.