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Football boss Sullivan confident "we're going to give this a right rattle."

Football boss Sullivan confident "we're going to give this a right rattle."
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The Waterford Ladies footballers open up their All-Ireland Campaign on Saturday, away to Kerry.

The Kingdom beat the Déise when the sides met in Munster, but just a single point stood between them at the full-time whistle.

"We'll most definitely put it up to them, no fear of that. We never fear Kerry and that's being honest," noted Waterford boss Pat Sullivan.

"Anytime we've played them at a high level it's always been a close game. The difference for us the last day and the difference for us in the league as well was that we just didn't take the chances we got. I think it was 53 or 54 minutes in the game in Killarney last March and we played them in the league, we were two points up, and ended us losing by six points so if we get our chances we needed to take them. If we get our chances on Saturday and take them, I'd be very confident that we're going to give this a right rattle."

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Kerry went on to win Munster, hammering Cork in the final, but in their All-Ireland opener last weekend drew with Donegal.

That drawn result opens the door to Waterford who can set themselves up for the campaign with a win in Fitzgerald Stadium.

"I was working on the games last weekend and do you know, it's funny, maybe a lot of people don't realise that while it is a key time, it is such a high-pressure few weekends here," says former Déise attacker Michelle Ryan.

"We have three weekends where the All-Ireland group series is run off and everything the teams and managers and players have been preparing for comes down to two matches as to whether you're going to qualify for an All-Ireland quarter-final or on the other hand, be heading into a relegation battle."

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With a three-team group, winning on the opening day is crucial, but Waterford will now have to contend with the sting in Kerry's tail having failed to register an opening-day win.

"One result out of the two puts us through now straight away which is great. Our target is the quarter-final, 100%. Get out of the group and from there we can build," says Sullivan.

"It's a free shot for us. The way the experts look at it we shouldn't be there and we're not good enough to be there, but we're really looking forward to that."

They're underway from 3 o'clock on Saturday.

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