Waterford's Lauren McGregor is hopeful the team can push on in 2025

Daire Walsh

Following a run of games that saw them coming close to claiming the scalps of some of the top teams in the land, things really came together for Lauren McGregor and the Waterford footballers last weekend.

After recording an opening round victory over a newly-promoted Kildare in Division 1 of this year’s Lidl National Football League, the Deise fell to a three-point defeat at the hands of reigning TG4 All-Ireland senior football champions Kerry in Carriganore on February 3rd.

Six days later in Pairc Tailteann, Navan, the Munster outfit finished a single point adrift (2-11 to 1-13) of Meath – back-to-back winners of the Brendan Martin Cup in 2021 and 2022.

While a draw with Dublin – who secured the All-Ireland senior championship as recently as 2023 – at Parnell Park on February 23rd put them on four points from as many games, the Deise were nevertheless seeking a return to winning ways when they faced Tyrone in Aghyaran last weekend.

This is something the visitors managed with considerable aplomb as an outstanding 3-2 haul from McGregor propelled them towards a 6-15 to 0-6 triumph.

“We definitely did believe that performance was there for us and it was just waiting to come. We were slow to start against Meath and they were on top of us at half-time. We just had to claw it back, but we didn’t get enough in the end,” McGregor said.

“The same against Dublin. We went ahead, but we just couldn’t finish out the game. There was definitely more in us. We haven’t really been getting goals the last few games. We took our chances on Sunday and hopefully we can just keep going on from there now.”

Having played their opening five games of the year in the space of just six weeks, Waterford will have an extended break before facing Armagh on home soil a fortnight from now (March 22nd).

The defending NFL Division 1 champions, Armagh are flying high at the moment with five successive wins leaving them requiring just a single point from the final two rounds to book another top-tier final spot.

Meanwhile, last Sunday’s win over Tyrone leaves Waterford in fourth place in the table – four points clear of the relegation zone and five points adrift of the top-two.

Considering a number of their squad are set to be in college action over the next week or so, McGregor (who has represented both University of Limerick and University of Galway in the O’Connor Cup) feels the Deise County will benefit from having a longer lead-in to the Armagh game.

“It will do us the world of good, especially to get ready for the game against Armagh. They look brilliant at the moment. They’re very good, so it will be a good challenge for us now after the Tyrone game. We’re looking forward to playing them.

“We’ll train through it [the break]. We’ll get a weekend off this weekend and just give girls a bit of a break from travelling as well, but we’ll be back then the Tuesday night.

“Everyone together and obviously then next weekend the girls are playing with the college. We’ll be missing a good few of them for the weekend, but there will be plenty of us there to keep something going over that weekend.”

Now one of the more experienced players in the set-up, McGregor first joined the Waterford panel while still a teenager in 2014.

Although she featured in the early stages of their 2015 inter-county season, the Dungarvan attacker had left the panel by the time Waterford claimed the TG4 All-Ireland intermediate football championship title in late September of that year.

Yet she subsequently returned to play a part in Waterford’s Lidl National Football League Division 3 success in 2016 and was also a member of the squad that triumphed in Division 2 of the NFL three years later.

In addition to retaining their top-tier league status since gaining promotion for the 2020 season, the Deise have also remained in the All-Ireland senior championship in the decade that has followed that intermediate triumph.

“I was up in the stand watching the 2015 intermediate final. It was brilliant. I played up until my Leaving Cert that year and I actually just dropped off around the Leaving Cert, because I found it too much. It was brilliant for them to get up to senior that year then and we've been going strong ever since.

“I know we’ve been relegation [play-offs] a couple of times, but we do think we can actually get further now. Last year we were in a quarter-final. We had a lot of girls injured and Kellyann [Hogan] went to America for the summer, but we’ve a lot of girls back now this year, which is brilliant as well.”

After not playing inter-county football in the previous two seasons, McGregor returned to the Waterford panel in 2022 and has established herself as a key figure in the side ever since.

Across 33 appearances (31 of them as a starter) in the Lidl NFL and the TG4 All-Ireland senior football championship in the past three years, she has amassed an outstanding tally of 21 goals and 53 points.

While living permanently in Limerick and being on a placement with college were contributing factors to her dropping off the panel in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, McGregor admits her appetite for playing inter-county football wasn’t particularly strong during this period.

However, she eventually returned to the fold and having a regular spot in the Waterford starting line-up has helped to grow her game and become one of the more prolific scorers in the side.

“I suppose I wasn’t really enjoying it at the time either when it was coming into Covid, so I didn’t mind taking the year or two off,” McGregor added.

“When I was younger coming on in the league, it’s kind of hard to make an impact when you’re only coming on for a few minutes at the end of games. At the end of the day if you’re scoring [you’ll stay in the team], but it’s about the girls all around you as well. It’s to help the team out, but it is great to be able to get on the end of them.”