Although Waterford topped their table home advantage was lost due to playing Derry as Congress had voted on long distance teams to meet half way. So Dublin it was Portmarnock to be exact. A drizzling wet day the bus left SETU. Unbeaten in the round robin stages Waterford were playing fourth on the table. Derry are strong. The Under 16A team is lead under manager Paul Barry and coaches selectors Darren Clooney , Paul O Toole ,David Elliott , Mark O Riordan and Kasia Rossa. Laura Beresford Abbeyside got the first point from play after 4 mins . Then Aoife Power Gailltir from play added another and Katie Mullane DLS found the scoreboard from a free. Three more scores from play from Katie Mullane DLS , Niamh McGrath St Anne’s , Laura Beresford Abbeyside. 14 mins in the clock and Derry got their first score. Katie Mullane goal 22 mins , Derry a point 28 mins a second goal by Mullane 29 mins . Sophie White Langford Butlerstown gave the umpire a reason to wave the green flag in the half time whistle . Waterford seemed to be on top of this .
Half time score Wat 3:06 to Derry 0:02. But Derry came out a different team for the second half . Two goals and two points from Derry before Waterford’s Sophie White Langford scored a point at 45mins gone. Wat 3:07 Derry 2:04. Elaina Coady Gailltir scored a point from play then Lucy Beresford St Anne’s pulled of a fantastic goal save. With another point from play from Mullane. Two points and a goal from Derry with mins to go saw Waterford felt the pressure . With time up and in injury time the Deise girls dug hard to keep the victory at a score line of 3:09 to 3:07.
Katie Mullane 2:03, Elaina Coady 0:01 , Niamh McGrath 0:01 , Laura Beresford 0:02 Aoife Power 0:01 Sophie White Langford 1:01 They now qualify for an All Ireland Shield Final U16A in two weeks time.
