Cork ladies footballers take on Waterford in a top-of-the-table clash

Cork take on Waterford tomorrow night in the Lidl Ladies National Football League at Páirc Ui Rinn, throw-in 7.35pm.

It’s a top-of-the-table clash and should draw a big crowd to the venue as a win for either side will see them with one foot in the league final and any chance of a relegation battle disappear.

The league is close this year, but on form to date, both Cork and Waterford are fully deserving of their spots at the top.

Whilst the Deise would have been predicted to be among the title-chasers, few outside of Cork would have said the same about the Rebels.

Like Galway, Cork were promoted back to the top flight this season, and their priority was to ensure they would remain in Division One.

But credit must go to manager Joe Carroll, his backroom staff, and the players for their superb form they have shown to date, to now top the table after four games on 10 points.

They are unbeaten so far, with one draw and three wins, and their latest victory over Kerry last weekend was a massive confidence boost to the side.

Speaking ahead of the game tomorrow night, Carroll admitted that not too many outside the camp would have predicted that his side would be where they are now.

“I suppose they might have predicted Waterford would be there, in fairness, because they had a reasonably good year last year compared to what we had,” said Carroll.

“But every year is a new year, and we have started well, and we're glad to be there, and it is nice to be at that end of the table rather than be down at the bottom end.

“Nearly everybody outside our group were probably predicting that we might be at the bottom end of the league. We started back in December, whenever we could go back, and we've worked extremely hard since then, and we set ourselves a target.

“First it was to get out of the danger zone and ensure we wouldn't be relegated, and I think that has worked so far, and the players have bought into it.

“I think we gained a bit of confidence after we won the Galway game, and then we won a tight Armagh game as well, so that helped to drive us on.

“The Armagh match was fierce tight, finished in a fierce ending, and we pulled it out of the fire. The elements last Sunday against Kerry played a big part in it because we had a very strong wind in the first half, and things just went for us and we built up a bit of a lead (0-14 to no score).

“When you build up a bit of a lead like that it’s hard for your opponents, and while we didn't play very well in the second half, we gave away the ball a lot, Kerry didn't punish us for the share of mistakes we made.

“Other times we held the ball very well, and we managed to get two points to finish well. We stressed to our girls at half-time they had to score more than 14 points, and it didn't make a difference what we scored once they didn't outscore us overall.

“They did outscore us in the second half, but with the wind that wasn’t surprising, and we were happy with the result, but maybe not that happy with the overall performance in the second half.”

Looking at their opponents tomorrow night, Carroll added: “I think maybe they got caught by Meath and they'll be ready for Cork on Saturday night. They're exceptionally good players. We have four or five of them with us in UCC and they're all playing on the O'Connor Cup team, so exceptionally good players, and it's going to take a fierce performance from us to try and turn them over.”

Carroll is also hoping a big Cork support will come out tomorrow night.

“There was an appeal by the Cork footballers to get a crowd out last Sunday at Páirc Ui Rinn against Meath, and I would be appealing for the same tomorrow night. It would be great to have a crowd out supporting a Cork ladies football team, and look, it's going to be a great game.”

Cork: S Murphy; M Duggan, D Kiniry, S Kelly; A Corcoran, S McGoldrick, R Corkery; A Healy, A O’Mahony; R Leahy, G Ní Mhurchú, E Cleary; R O’Regan, K Quirke, L Hallahan.

Waterford: K Gardiner; C Murray, R Casey, A McGrath; K McGrath, E Murray, L Mulcahy; Á O’Neill, E Power; K Murray, K Hogan, B McMaugh; C Fennell, C Walsh, L McGregor.