TG4 All-Ireland Ladies’ Senior Football Championship
Carney boss is fully focused on Waterford date
BY DAIRE WALSH
MONAGHAN manager Niall Treanor has described Saturday week’s clash with Waterford as the ‘most important game of the year’ for the county.
The Farney outfit have been drawn alongside reigning champions Dublin and the Munster finalists in the group stages of the LGFA All-Ireland senior championship – with the latter sides doing battle at O’Moore Park, Portlaoise this weekend.
The state of play for Monaghan will become much clearer in the day’s leading up to their group opener, but Treanor acknowledges they need to be at their best if they are the overcome the Deise challenge.
“The big thing for us is for the girls to put in the best performance they can. Hopefully they do and we get over the line and get one foot into the All-Ireland quarter-final.We’re trying to prepare as best we can for it,” Treanor explained at Tuesday’s championship launch at Croke Park.
“I’ve seen a few games of them [Waterford]. I’ve seen the Munster final [defeat to Cork] as well. I’ve been looking at them as much as I can in regards to that.”
Having already missed out on the Ulster semi-final reversal to Armagh, Muireann Atkinson will once again be sidelined for the Waterford game. However, Treanor hopes to have the O’Neill Shamrocks star available before the end of their group campaign.
“She had ligament damage and she got an operation. She’ll not be available. We’re going to assess her again after the Waterford game. Hopefully she’ll be back for the Dublin game. That’s our main injury concern at the minute.”
It has been a difficult season to date for Monaghan, whose early exit from the Ulster championship was preceded by their relegation to Division Two of the National Football League.