Waterford county football team
The Waterford county football team represents Waterford in men's Gaelic football and is governed by Waterford GAA, the County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The team competes in the three major annual inter-county competitions; the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the Munster Senior Football Championship and the National Football League.
Waterford's home ground is Fraher Field, Dungarvan and Walsh Park, Waterford. The team's manager is Shane Ronayne.
The team last won the Munster Senior Championship in 1898, but has never won the All-Ireland Senior Championship or the National League.
History
The Waterford county football team's greatest achievement is reaching the All-Ireland Final in 1898, losing to Dublin on a scoreline of 2–08 to 0-04. They were represented by Erin's Hope of Dungarvan.
In recent times, the team have twice won the All-Ireland Junior Football Championship.
In 2003, Waterford created a major shock in winning the Munster Under-21 Football Championship, defeating Kerry in the final.
Waterford have not reached a Munster final since 1960, have not defeated Kerry since 1957, Cork since 1960, Limerick since 1981 and Tipperary since 1988. On 20 May 2007, the Waterford county football team broke a 19-year run without a senior championship win, defeating Clare at Fraher Field, Dungarvan by 1–06 to 0-07. The starting team fielded by manager John Kiely consisted of: Tom Wall; Justin Walsh, Thomas O'Gorman, Shane Briggs: John Phelan, Edmond Rockett, Paul Ogle; Mick Ahern, John Hurney; Brian Wall, Gary Hurney, Ger Power; Wayne Hennessy, Andy Hubbord and Liam O'Lonain.
They defeated Clare again in 2010.
- League Promotion
In 2010, after going so close to promotion in previous years Waterford went unbeaten in the league (beating Leitrim, London, Kilkenny, Limerick, Clare and Wicklow and secured draws against Longford and Carlow), but in the final had to give second best to Limerick at Croke Park.[1]
Current squad
Team as per Waterford vs Cork in the Munster SFC quarter-final, 27 May 2017
Managerial history
This is a list of people who have managed the Waterford county football team.
Joe Curran: ?–98
John Cummins 1998–99
Greg Fives 1999–01
Denis Walsh 2001–03
Billy Harty 2003–04
John Kiely 2004–09
John Owens 2009–12
Niall Carew 2012–14
Tom McGlinchey 2014–18
Benji Whelan 2018–20[3][4]
Shane Ronayne 2021–
Players
Records
- Goalkeeper Darren Mulhearne made his championship debut at the age of 46 in 2019.[5][6][7]
Honours
- National
- All-Ireland Senior Football Championships: None
- All-Ireland Junior Football Championships: 2
- 1999, 2004
- All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championships: None
- All-Ireland Minor Football Championships: None
- National Football Leagues: None
- Provincial
- Munster Senior Football Championships: 1
- 1898
- Munster Junior Football Championships: 3
- 1948, 1999, 2004
- Munster Under-21 Football Championships: 1
- 2003
- Munster Minor Football Championships: None
- McGrath Cup: 2
- 1981, 2015
References
- "Liam Ó Lionain Goal Waterford V Limerick Croke Park 2010". TG4.
- "Shane Ronayne takes Waterford football reins". RTÉ. 11 January 2021.
- "Benji Whelan admits lure of hurling hinders Déise football". RTÉ. 12 November 2020.
- "New Déise boss Whelan open to secondary competition". Irish Examiner. 28 September 2018.
- Roche, Cian (1 May 2019). "'A dream come true': 46-year-old keeper in line to make Championship debut for Waterford". The42.ie.
- "Waterford hand 46-year-old keeper Mulhearne first start". RTÉ Sport. 10 May 2019.
- Rooney, Declan (14 May 2019). "'I might become professional' - The story of the unemployed 46-year-old debutant Waterford goalkeeper". Irish Independent.