Waterford Camogie County Board has announced Jerry Wallace as the county's new senior Camogie Manager.
The Cork native replaces Sean Power in the role, following the departure of Power back in November for family reasons.
A statement from the county board last night said Wallace "brings a wealth of experience to the role having managed a number of county teams successfully for many years."
Wallace stood down from his role as Cork minor Camogie boss last week having been in the job since 2018. In that time, Cork won four of the five All-Ireland's on offer, with no Championship played in 2020 owing to the pandemic. Prior the Middleton native's arrival, his home county had gone 12 years without a title at the minor grade.
In a statement released to the Cork Camogie Board, Wallace said that "another career opportunity has become available to me over the past few days and this is something that I wish to pursue. This means that I unfortunately will not be available to undertake the position of Cork Minor Camogie Manager going forward and that my management team finishes as well."
Wallace cut his teeth as a coach with the Cork senior hurlers, winning back-to-back All-Ireland's in 2004 and 2005; the last All-Ireland's that Cork have won at the senior grade.
Aside from working within his home county, Wallace also gave stints as Antrim senior hurling manager as well as coaching the Limerick senior hurlers for a period.
While the majority of his time has been spent in the intercounty game, Wallace also has pedigree in the club game having managed his home club Middleton from 2015 to 2017. The club made the county semi-finals in both of those campaigns, winning the senior hurling league in his first year in charge.
Before returning back the intercounty scene with the Cork Camogie minors, he returned to a previous posting of Director of the Limerick underage hurling academies where he was also coaching the county minors as they won back-to-back Munster titles. He left that role in 2014, stating at the time that he was "very keen to continue my role with the academy," but the county hurling executive did not agree with this sentiment.
He takes over a Waterford senior squad that played in a first All-Ireland since 1945 last year, losing to Cork in the final. He will have plenty of talent to work with in the Déise, with three current All-Stars - two of them multiple All-Star winners - as well as other previous All-Star winners dotted throughout the squad.
Wallace will also have the benefit of coaching the 2023 Camogie Player of the Year in Beth Carton.
He will be right into the deep end as he starts the job. The county is playing back at the top table of the league in 2024 having secured their place in Division 1A when beating Wexford in the 1B final in the summer.
Photo Credit Noel Browne
