Ladies Gaelic Football

www.ladiesgaelic.ie | SUMMER 2020 | 15 RISE OF WATERFORD right; we have come so far. When you are playing at a high standard you want to keep winning and keep bettering yourself. "We were going well and we were hopeful that we'd pick up another result or two so that we'd be safe from relegation. But competing with the top teams had us looking forward to the summer and the Munster Championship." In 2019 Ballymacarbry won their 38th Waterford Senior title in a row. It's a staggering achievement and a statistic that must feel like a weight on the shoulders of their senior rivals Comeragh Rangers, Stradbally and Ballyduff Upper. Speaking in 2018, Waterford and Ballymac legend Marie Crotty said she can see her club's amazing run coming to an end, and that for the good of the game other "clubs in the county really need to step up. They won't like me saying that but it has to happen." followed Waterford would play in eight deciders, winning five in total, but after that 1998 victory over Monaghan, their winning run stalled. Two losses to an up-and-coming Mayo side saw the team slowly break apart, and ten years after their last win the Déise ladies were relegated to the Intermediate grade. A year earlier the county had dropped out of Division 1, and it wasn't until their TG4 Intermediate Final win in 2015, a Munster Senior Final success in 2017 and last year's promotion to Division 1 that the slide was fully corrected. "It has been a long process since 2015," said current captain Karen McGrath. "Going back five years ago we were in Division 3 playing Intermediate championship. Now in 2020 we are in Division 1 and are a Senior team again. It's great to be back there. "We were going well in the league this year. A few games got away from us. Other games we felt that we left results behind us. It was a bit disappointing. "But after one of the games, Becky Casey said 'Would we have ever thought we'd be disappointed after such a performance in a Division 1 game?' She was so

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