Galway and Waterford will meet in the All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championahip for the first time in five years this Sunday when the sides meet in the quarter finals in Croke Park (1.30pm). In the 2019 championship meeting, Galway overcame the Déise by 2-16 to 2-6 en route to winning the All-Ireland title, but Waterford are hopeful of repeating their great championship form of last season when they reached only their second ever All-Ireland final.
Galway manager, Cathal Murray has backed his charges to consign last weekend's listless effort against Cork to the dustbin and put their best foot forward against Waterford in next Sunday’s Glen Dimplex All-Ireland quarter-final at Croke Park (1.30pm). Murray is backing knockout competition to bring the best out of his crew but they will have to improve considerably on the 2-16 to 1-7 loss at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
“Hard to put in words,” the Sarsfields man admitted. “Cork were the better team by a long, long way. We just weren’t at the races. There were a lot of good performances but as a team we were poor and never got out of the blocks. We don’t have much time to feel sorry for ourselves. It’s going to be a massive task and we’re going to have to be an awful lot better or we’re in serious trouble.”
An ankle injury to veteran Ann Marie Starr, who re-established herself in the side this year after a number of years on the sidelines, didn’t help but Murray wasn’t looking for handy escape clauses.
“She’s going to have to go for a scan during the week and we’ll know then. She was one of the players that stood up massively for us so if she is injured, it’s going to be a huge loss. There’s nothing broken but it might be ligaments and if it is, she’s facing a few weeks on the sideline, her year could be over. We’re hoping against hope that’s not the case. We have been dogged by injuries but that’s no excuse. We had the majority of our team out there and unfortunately the performance wasn’t good enough. It’s really disappointing but we know we’re not as bad as we looked out there. We know what we have in that dressing room. It’s about backing them now, them backing each other, backing the team. I’m sure you’ll see a different Galway next week. We need to see a better Galway next week but we will.”
Ahead of Sunday's quarter final meeting with Waterford, Cathal Murray has been speaking to Galway Bay FM commentator Tommy Devane...
