On the ball: Waterford captain Linda Wall.

On the ball: Waterford captain Linda Wall.


Sunday next is Linda Wall’s third All-Ireland Final at this grade. “That makes me a veteran at this stage,” joked the 32-year-old Ballymacarbry clubwoman, who is hoping Waterford can go one step better than they did in both the 2012 and 2010 Final defeats to Armagh and Donegal.
“The last two times we’ve reached this stage, we just didn’t play to our potential on the day,” she reflected in Dungarvan GAA’s Clubhouse on Wednesday last.
“We still got close in both games but didn’t play particularly brilliantly, and it’s always a regret for any player when you don’t produce your best on All-Ireland Final day.
“But we’re really pleased with how things have gone for us this year. I feel we’ve everything in place this time around to give us the best possible opportunity of striking our best form when it matters most and if we do that against Kildare, hopefully that will be enough to get us over the line.”
Victories over Limerick (3-16 to 4-7), Tipperary (6-18 to 1-4) and Clare (2-12 to 0-1) ensured the Deise of a provincial final berth, and they overcame the Banner in a much tighter Munster decider in Mallow (1-14 to 2-7).
From there, revenge for their League Final defeat was gained when seeing off Sligo in the All-Ireland Quarter-Final (1-15 to 0-8) before impressively accounting for Leitrim in the Semi-Final by 2-17 to 2-6.
Linda Wall continued: “We’d cruised through the League and put a lot of big scores up on our opposition – we hadn’t really been challenged all that much, to be honest. And then when things started to go wrong in the League Final, I think some of that had been down to the fact that we hadn’t really been tested up to that point, so that was a huge wake-up call for us.
“The Munster Final against Clare and that League Final definitely stood us by the time we were preparing for the All-Ireland Quarter-Final, and the fates had it in store for us that we ended up facing Sligo again. We knew we were going to have to work harder and push on more; we knew we’d be up against it against Sligo, that we’d have to pull out all the stops, and we did just that.”
The sterner provincial final with Clare was of no surprise to Linda and her team mates. “We’d both qualified for the final by the time we played each other; Clare had just come down out of senior, similar to Kildare, and finals are different games altogether. But we came through that game and won by four points and only really got the better of them in the last 10 minutes.”
As for Kildare? “Well, we’re expecting a massive challenge, and we hope what we produced against both Clare and Sligo will stand us in good stead at Croke Park. They’ve only just come down from senior, they’re used to playing at a high level and playing the game at a really fast pace. We haven’t played them for a couple of years so we don’t know a huge amount about them, but they’ll probably be thinking about us in a similar manner – but we know we’re in for a very big test, and we’re going to have to be at our best – we’re really concentrating on ourselves and doing all we can to ensure we play to our potential.”
The popularity of the women’s game is expanding in Waterford, which suggests greater days lie ahead irrespective of Sunday’s outcome.
“We’d gone a few years without winning anything at underage level, but that, thankfully has begun to change again and we’ve been winning several ‘B’ All-Irelands and ran Cork close in an ‘A’ final at Under-16 level.
“As for us, we’ve a really strong panel, stronger than it has been for a few years, especially with minors such as Megan Dunford and Emma Murray making the step up so well. Then the substitutes we’ve introduced have ramped up the pace of the game in the closing stages and we’ve used five subs in practically every match which just goes to show how strong the panel is at the moment – and that’s down, in a great many ways to how we’ve been doing at underage level.”
Linda added: “And Pat (Sullivan) has honed a lot of that talent at 14s and 16s, he knows just what we have at our disposal and it’s pleasing to see so many young players stepping up to the plate so well and making such a brilliant contribution.”
Being the north side of 30, Linda admitted to having one or two thoughts about 2015 being, possibly, her last chance to lead a Waterford side back into a grade they dominated during the glorious 90s.
“Sure you wouldn’t be human if you didn’t have that thought running through your mind, even once,” she stated.
“I’ve tried to put that out of my mind and just concentrate on the next ball, the next game – I’ve tired not to dwell on it too much. I think if you did, it might overwhelm you a bit. Of course, I know only too well that I’m closer the end of my career than I am the start but I’m just doing all I can to look on the All-Ireland Final as the next game, just the next game. We’ve taken this year in sections, that’s worked up to now so there’s no reason to change that now.”
Having lined out for Waterford since 2001 (“a lot has changed, particularly when it comes to nutrition”), Linda and her sisters Aileen and Mairead are an integral part of Pat Sullivan’s plans.
“At home, whether we’re going to a club match or a game like Sunday, we try and approach every game in the same way and block out the sense of occasion that goes with All-Ireland day. Once the ball is thrown in, where the game is being played doesn’t matter. It’s all about the next ball, and that’s all that matters, and we’re very proud to have three of us involved – we’re like our own little gang!”
So what about full-time, and the prospect of victory, the walk up those famous steps and speaking on behalf of Port Láirge football?
“I’ve not given a thought to the steps of the Hogan Stand,” she said. “If and
when that point comes, if we get the result we want, sure I’ll deal with that then.” Now there’s a thought we all hope Linda can allow herself to enjoy just before 3pm next Sunday afternoon.