Áine Lyng backs former Waterford team-mates to reach All-Ireland final

For Waterford to finally get over the line in their All-Ireland senior camogie quarter-final against Limerick last Saturday felt major after failing to do so in the four previous seasons.

A niggling feeling that they were underachievers who had flattered to deceive from when they reached that first quarter-final in 2018, also in Semple Stadium, was beginning to fester but no one is saying that now.

There has been quite a high turnover of players from that defeat to Tipperary when everything felt new.

Áine Lyng is one of those no longer involved, expecting her first child in October after marrying James Schwarz last year. Her pleasure in seeing the white and blue reach a first senior semi-final since 1959 against neighbours Cork is evident.

Lyng has always had high standards so four years ago she wasn't getting carried away about the prospect of a senior quarter-final in the third season back after winning the intermediate title in 2015.

Lyng dated back to the premier junior final defeats of 2009 and 2010 but missed the 2011 triumph, having moved to London for six years and taken up ultra-running to fill the gap.

Despite a lengthy absence that included watching from the stands for those 2011 and 2015 successes, Lyng was still named on Waterford’s team of the decade in 2020, which tells you a lot.

She is well placed to understand what has gone into getting the Déise to Croke Park with just three other teams in contention for ultimate honours (champions Galway and Kilkenny do battle in the second semi-final).

"Looking back now, it was momentous to reach a senior quarter-final but it wasn’t the first time Waterford camogie had gotten far," Lyng reasons. "Like this game, it had been building for years.

"Even going back as far as when