The women’s’ football finals in Croke Park on October 1st provided excellent entertainment for both television viewers and the live attendance of 15,000. An Moltóir had expected the 20,000 barrier to be broken, but for some reason Waterford supporters were very thin on the ground on the day. Maybe they got lost looking for GAA headquarters! Fair play, nonetheless, to the Mayo followers who turned up in strength and generated a great spectacle of colour and noise in the new Cusack Stand.

Many of the Waterford players were quick to express their disappointment at the lack of support after the game. Not only did it show scant recognition for the mighty effort they have made in bringing their county to the forefront of this rapidly growing sport, but they also reckoned that the din created by their followers could have given the Mayo players that extra bit of inspiration in what was a very tight game. One would have thought that, with their very skimpy record of All-Ireland wins in any code, the people of the Déise might have made more of an effort on this occasion.

The junior final between Galway and Down was played with great exuberance by two very skilful teams, either of whom would have been a credit to senior ranks. An Moltóir was half hoping for a win for the Tribeswomen, if only because Connacht is the only province left without a senior championship. However, while the game might have gone either way, in the end Down were deserving winners. An Moltóir was particularly taken by the performance of the elegant Joanne Lavery at centre forward for Down, as she was at the heart of most of their more incisive attacking moves.

The senior game was much tenser and tighter, as one might expect from two such experienced teams with so much emotional capital invested in the outcome. Nevertheless the second half produced excellent and most exciting fare, as both teams raised their game in search of victory. Territorially, the Waterford women probably had the upper hand, but they had no individual forwards with the incisiveness of Diane O'Hora or Cora Staunton. The Déise have yet to find an adequate successor to the great Áine Wall who, despite still being only in her twenties, was unfortunately forced out of the game by an excess of injuries.

Even then, Lord Luck did not smile for the southerners on the day. Three times they hit the woodwork, while the penalty awarded to Mayo was a very dubious affair and Cora Staunton's winning goal was a pure fluke. However, as they say, once you get your shots on target, anything is possible. Waterford were also unfortunate with their last attacking move, as they patiently moved the ball up from the halfback line, only for Marian Troy to snatch hastily at her scoring chance, with the clock clicking ominously close to zero.

No marks to those ‘meeja’ reporters who commended Troy for getting up the field from corner back and into a scoring position. While she did wear the number two on her back, she had played all the second half in midfield following a switch which saw Mary O'Donnell moving back to mark Cora Staunton. While O'Donnell did a commendable job of containing Mayo's top forward, at the same time the switch robbed Waterford of one of their key outfield playmakers.

An Moltóir still detects a widespread scepticism of the women's game among many male observers. This is little more than ignorant macho arrogance. An Moltóir is not a great fan of Gaelic football in general, but he definitely prefers the female version for its greater continuity, openness and absence of cynical fouling. Having said that, Mayo did get away with a bit of the latter. One wonders how a team of fifteen players can give away 43 fouls without not even one of them getting a warning, by all appearances.

The main problem for the women's game is the unseemly scrambling that can occur when two or more players seek to pick the ball from the ground simultaneously, but this is no worse than the way players in the men's game become enveloped by gropers when they come down having made a clean catch in the air. The ‘mark’ provides an excellent antidote for this in the Australian Rules game, and I am sure that, in time, a similar solution will be found for the corresponding problem in women's football.

An Moltóir also wonders if the women's game is overprotective of its players in its prohibition of deliberate bodily contact, although it doesn't tend to be as disruptive of play as the corresponding rule in camogie. One area where women's football has moved way ahead of the male version is in the adoption of the time clock which eliminates all uncertainty and provides appropriate compensation for stoppages due to injuries, etc. It's a very simple device, but clearly beyond the mental grasp of the simpletons at the helm of the GAA who haven't even got the excuse that it has already been introduced in soccer.

Having skated to the All-Ireland minor title and also captured the Munster junior championship, there is no doubt that Waterford will remain a major force in women's football. One also noted that Ballymacarbry, who once supplied the entire county team, only had six on the starting Déise fifteen in this year's senior final. Two of their most prominent forwards, Claire O'Rourke and Aoife Murphy (who came on as a substitute) are both just sixteen and are marvellous future prospects.

Given the lack of prowess of their male brethren with the big ball, it is nothing short of remarkable the way Waterford have become the leading power in women's football. Perhaps some selective crossbreeding or genetic cloning could do the trick in producing a future county hurling team with a winning mentality!