Footballers begin journey into the unknown

Over the Christmas period TG4 put together their top 15 goals of the football and hurling season. Plenty of big names present on the football side including the likes of Owen Mulligan, James Kavanagh and Stephen Bray. But in the middle of all of them was Liam Ó’Lionain’s green flag in the Division 4 final against Limerick. Only a few years ago a Waterford footballer even appearing on television would be a laughable suggestion never mind him firing the 6th best goal of the 2010 season.

It all took off in 2009 with a book, a dream and John Kiely. John Owens made the dream of promotion from Division 4 a reality last year and now the footballers are preparing for a Division 3 campaign next month. Progress and exposure to the big stage now brings higher expectations. 2010 opened new doors, in particular an appearance at Croke Park for the league final. An unbeaten run of eight games in the league also showed a marked improvement in consistency. The defence, which John Kiely developed during his rein, only conceded an average of 11 points in that run to the final. Meanwhile, the forwards chalked up close to 18 points per game. New players emerged like Kieran Connery, Tommy Prendergast, Conor McGrath and Robert Ahearne to complement the established players. The return of Gary Hurney, to give his full commitment to football, also proved influential.

If Waterford are looking to reach for the stars again in 2011, last year’s championship provided plenty of inspiration. It was a year where standards levelled out and teams at Waterford’s level made significant strides. After all Roscommon, who operate in Division 4 this year, won the Connacht title and appeared in the last eight of the All Ireland series. Limerick and Louth also reached provincial finals and were narrowly denied by Kerry and Meath respectively. Both of these counties join Waterford in Division 3.

The McGrath Cup campaign begins this weekend against Tipperary at Walsh Park in a dress rehearsal for their league meeting in March. Waterford footballers usually save their best form for the spring months mainly due to the consistent run of games. A sign of this was when they scored three goals against Kerry at Killarney in this competition last year before the Kingdom escaped with a narrow win.

Despite all of this 25/1 is a fair reflection of Waterford’s league prospects. The retention of Division 3 status must be the first priority with victories on home soil a key part in achieving this goal. The duty of free taking which proved problematic last term is also one which Owens needs to seek a solution. As Tony Grey admitted in a recent interview, it is unchartered territory for this group. “It’s going to be a new challenge for us out of Division 4, against new teams, but everyone will be looking forward to that. We got to know all the teams in Division 4 very well and they knew us too so there will be that little bit of freshness in Division 3.”

The winner of that TG4 competition by the way was Sligo forward David Kelly. The Yeats county won the Division 3 title in 2010 after gaining promotion from Division 4 the previous year. Sligo now find themselves on the next rung of the ladder, a level John Owens and his players must now aspire to. Unlike previous seasons their progress will now be monitored closely under the spotlight.