Waterford rise above Clare to offer glimpse of career grand slam for 17-year veteran

SEVENTEEN YEARS AFTER making her inter-county debut, Niamh Rockett scored 1-11 to keep her dream of completing a grand slam of honours alive.

A sensational haul of premier junior, intermediate and senior medals remains on the cards after Waterford survived the most searching of tests before stretching away to a 10-point victory over Clare.

It was a pulsating Glen Dimplex All-Ireland senior camogie quarter-final.

At the other end of the field, Vikki Falconer marked her return to Croke Park two years after buckling in the early minutes of the All-Ireland final with what proved to be a cruciate knee ligament injury, by providing an imperious display of defending.

The former All-Star was given a bit of trouble early on by Róisín Begley, but by the second half, she was emerging from every ruck going with the sliotar, carrying, finding a teammate, returning to base camp.

Don’t be fooled by the margin, though. This was a deficit that was harsh on Clare, even if Waterford could have had three or four goals in the first half.

That they didn’t was down to the goalkeeping of Rachael Daly, who dived full length to save a Beth Carton penalty and made another stop from the industrious Máiréad O’Brien.

Abby Flynn was also denied by some last ditch defending by Susan Daly and Clare Hehir, while Sinéad O’Keeffe threw her body on the line to deny Flynn another chance.

The Dalys were joined in defence by their triplet sibling Lynda, who recovered from a first-half injury to play well, while their younger sister Jennifer was a constant threat with her pace and scored two points.

Meanwhile, Áine O’Loughlin pounced for two goals in the first half, the first an absolute piledriver after Begley found her peeling off Kate Lynch.

That was in the 15th minute and eight minutes later, she did really well to grab a low ball, turn and boot a shot in off the far post.

Their workrate had Waterford struggling to get out of defence, to set their patterns going and make any real inroads up top. Annie Fitzgerald and Flynn were largely clinical when the opportunity presented itself, while Flynn and Rockett combined well for a couple of scores.

It looked hard work for the Déise outfit but a turnover deep in injury time created a two-on-one and when Flynn fed Fitzgerald, the Gaill Tír dynamo made no mistake from close range to give Waterford a 1-11 to 2-5 lead.

By now, Mick Boland and his brains trust had moved Keeley Corbett Barry back on O’Loughlin, with Lynch sitting in front. Clare went for a Twin Towers approach when bringing on Ellen Casey at the end of the third quarter and the Newmarket-on-Fergus giant had a shot from a free well saved by Brianna O’Regan.

O’Loughlin continued to cause trouble but by hook, and maybe sometimes by crook, Waterford kept the Banner skipper at bay.

The Waterford captain, Lorraine Bray began to get more into the game with a couple of points at the end of trademark runs were notable, though with a three-on-two overlap, she probably should have made a goal chance out of one of those.

Clare Hehir lofted three might frees over the bar from distance for the saffron and blue and it was still all to play for when Rockett exchanged passes with sub Maggie Gostl to goal in the 55th minute.

The St Anne’s sharpshooter had to stretch but just beat the advancing Rachael Daly to flick to the net and put eight between them.

Points from Rockett and Fitzgerald, who blazed just over after somehow working her way in from the endline, made it a double-figure margin, which will have fooled nobody, but for Waterford the key was ensuring a third semi-final appearance in four seasons.

Scorers for Waterford: N Rockett 1-11 (0-7fs, 0-1 45); A Fitzgerald 1-2; A Flynn 0-3; L Bray, B Carton 0-2 each.

Scorers for Clare: A O’Loughlin 2-0; C Hehir 0-3(fs); A O’Keeffe, J Daly, Z Spillane 0-2 each; C Cahill 0-1.

WATERFORD: B O’Regan, R Walsh, K Lynch, V Falconer, B Bowdren, K Corbett Barry, O Hickey. A McNulty, L Bray, E O’Neill, B Carton, A Flynn, N Rockett, M O’Brien, A Fitzgerald.

Subs: M Gostl for O’Neill (44); T Power for Hickey (57); M Comerford for Flynn (59); I Heffernan for Corbett Barry (60); A O’Sullivan for O’Brien (60+2).

CLARE: R Daly, S O’Keeffe, C Hehir, S Daly, L Daly, A Walsh, D Griffin, N Mulqueen, A Andersen, A O’Keeffe, C Cahill, J Daly, R Begley, A O’Loughlin, Z Spillane.

Subs: C Carmody for Spillane (39); E Casey for Andersen (42); G Carmody for A O’Keeffe (57); C Grogan for S Daly, A Cooney for J Daly (58); M Scanlon for Hehir blood (60).

Referee: Liz Dempsey (Kilkenny)