'We didn’t come out of nowhere': Molly Comerford on Gaultier’s historic county final success in Waterford

Molly Comerford in action for Waterford. Pic: Matt Browne/Sportsfile.

It was something that seemed like a pipe dream just a few short years ago, but Molly Comerford and Gaultier LGFC made history at Fraher Field in Dungarvan last Friday week by claiming the Waterford senior football championship title for the very first time.

Founded as recently as 2014, the Dunmore East-based outfit slowly left their mark in the Deise County and eventually claimed intermediate county honours with a final victory against Ballyduff Upper in 2023. 

Having initially made promising strides upon their promotion from the second-tier, Gaultier reached a maiden senior decider this year by overcoming defending champions Comeragh Rangers in the penultimate phase.

Considering 45-time champions Ballymacarbry (also winners of the AIB All-Ireland senior club football championship on ten occasions) provided the opposition, there might have been a fear that a novice side like Gaultier would be overawed in Fraher Field last week.

Yet this didn’t turn out to be the case and after contributing two points from right corner-forward in a 1-8 to 1-4 victory for her side, Comerford was tasked with lifting the silverware in her role as team captain.

“It’s an honour anyway to represent such a special group of players, but I think there is so many leaders on that team all over the pitch that any one of them could have played a captain’s role. Did in some ways as well. It’s an added honour, but it could have been anyone as well,” Comerford said.

“It has been a mad journey the last few years. It’s a relatively new club, it’s only 12 years old I think. We were in intermediate for a while and in 2023 we won that. Since then it has just been steady progress. The first year we were up, we were in a quarter-final. Last year a semi-final and this year a final.

“It has been progressing, but we never thought it would be as quick as this. I’d say we didn’t come out of nowhere. We were kind of ticking away for a few years, but I think this county title probably came a few years ahead of schedule as well.” As has been well-documented, the aforementioned Ballymacarbry had been the LGFA standard bearers within Waterford for several decades. In fact, on the same day Gaultier landed their intermediate title in 2023, Ballymac secured a phenomenal 42nd senior county crown in-a-row with a win against Comeragh Rangers.

Yet Comeragh forced their all-conquering opponents into extra-time on that occasion and while Ballymac went on to reach an All-Ireland senior showpiece at the end of the year, 2024 finally saw their remarkable run coming to an end. It was Comeragh who finally halted their march (before making it back-to-back senior triumphs in 2025) and Comerford acknowledged this offered the belief to Gaultier and others within the county that a similar success was possible.

“I think for all the teams in Waterford, seeing Comeragh end that reign two years ago was massively encouraging for everyone. Just knowing that there’s other teams who are up there competing with the Ballymacs.

“I think a lot of teams would have looked at those wins from Comeragh and taken a lot of encouragement from that as well. Just to see a giant like Ballymac, that there’s teams out there that can compete with them as well.” Although Gaultier can now look forward to a Munster senior football championship semi-final date with the winners of tomorrow’s Clare decider between Fergus Rovers and Kilmurry Ibrickane, there is another item on the agenda for Comerford and a host of her team-mates later today.

While they are technically separate clubs, the Gailltír senior camogie side contains a number of the footballers who earned top honours in Dungarvan eight days ago.

When this outfit sealed their fourth consecutive Waterford senior championship title in November 2021, a youthful Comerford appeared as a substitute. Three years later, she was a starter when Gailltír regained their place at the top of the camogie ladder with a final success over De La Salle.

Molly Comerford of Waterford during the ZuCar All-Ireland Ladies Football U18 C final match between Donegal and Waterford at Kinnegad in Westmeath. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Comerford and Gailltír also lost to their city counterparts in 2022, 2023 and 2025, and they will once again renew acquaintances at Azzurri Walsh Park tomorrow. Despite having to get their heads down in the wake of a memorable weekend that followed their impressive football breakthrough, Comerford and her fellow dual stars are looking forward to another shot at glory.

“We’re playing in a senior camogie final this weekend and that would have a lot of the same girls involved as played on Friday. We’re spending nearly every day of the week with each other. We kind of like it that way. We’re all very, very close friends. We’re just seeing it as a positive. Getting to see our friends every day and play with your friends every day.

“We’ve played them [De La Salle] in the last four finals and every time we’ve played them it has been a really entertaining game. It’s always a massive battle and there’s never more than two or three points in it at the end. I think it will be an entertaining game.” As well as being a club player in football and camogie, Comerford has represented Waterford in both codes during the past few years. Having lined out for the Deise senior footballers in 2023 and 2024, she was part of the Waterford camogie set-up in 2025.

In the latter season, she appeared as a substitute in the county’s first-ever victory over Kilkenny in the All-Ireland senior championship, before also featuring off the bench in a quarter-final win against Clare and a semi-final loss to Cork.

Though it remains to be seen if she will feature at inter-county level in the years to come, Comerford has enjoyed her experiences with Waterford to date.

“I played two years with the Waterford footballers, just coming out of minor. That was a great experience, I really enjoyed that. I would have played mostly camogie for Waterford growing up. That was a nice change for me,” Comerford added.

“Then I went back to the camogie there last year. It has been nice to switch off as well, but they’ve both been really enjoyable experiences. Nice to see how different those groups operate. It has been great.”