Women's Weekend Preview

Cork City FC Women welcome Treaty United and TG4 to Turners Cross tonight, hoping to record back-to-back victories in the SSE Airtricity League and record a fourth unbeaten competitive game in a row. Treaty had a disappointing loss away to Bohemians last weekend having recorded three wins and two draws in their opening five games. City currently lie 5th in the table, two points ahead of 7th place Treaty, and that is a story in itself. 

 

For any of the last three seasons, the Munster Derby between these sides typically gave an indication on who would finish bottom, but this season both sides have been buoyed by an influx of quality players, some from abroad and a new sense of belief that has deservedly lifted the sides from the foot of the table. Rather than looking behind each other at the bottom, both sides focus is on improving and looking up the table, and that belief and focus was evident as we spoke to Danny Murphy, starting with a look back at the win in Sligo last weekend, which was City’s 6th game in a row to be played away from home. 

 

“Great result in Sligo last week, it's never an easy place to go but to play the quality of football we played at times up there, the girls they've had it tough over the last six weeks with travel but their level of commitment has never wavered, they've been at every session, put in the work, put in the hours, done their video analysis on the opposition, done extra work and I think it's really starting to show in terms of their performance the effort they've put in.” 

 

“Going up to Sligo was tough, it's a long day with a late kick-off and that can drain players. Eva Mangan spoke in the hotel after we'd had our meal and done some video work, she was so clear and strong in her leadership, and we left as a staff knowing we were going to win. It set the tone for us on the day.” 

 

“We did really well, we kept our 1-0 lead, but we did it with a style and in a way that attacked a bit more, where in DLR we hadn't countered well enough. All in all, it was a great team performance, actually a great squad performance - even those girls who didn't play on the day drove the girls on, the spirit in the group is excellent, we're winning as a group, and we have each other's backs.”  

 

“Treaty is a tough game, probably a tougher game than Sligo in attacking areas and they're dangerous off set pieces so we have to make sure we're switched on and do the right things and give ourselves to chance to get a positive result. We want to get back-to-back wins; we want to go and dominate the ball and impose our style of play on good teams. That's what we want to do, have an identity in how we play.”  

  

“Hopefully we get a big crowd coming out, the girls deserve it. We're such a well-supported club but we want to get more people through the gates supporting our Women's team. People talk about investment but ultimately you need to see people coming to support the girls, which makes that investment easier to justify from a financial aspect.  

  

“We're a club on the up, we're going the right way and if people come out and support the girls, they'll see there's a team here they can be proud of, who are proud to wear the Cork City jersey and give everything for it.” 

 

 

 

WU17 PREVIEW 

It’s 3 wins from 5 so far for Cork City’s Wu17 this seasons. Craig Robinson’s side are 6 points adrift of Wexford FC at the top of the Wu17 Group C table, but with a game in hand and a refixed game against Wexford to come.  

Weather and pitch conditions have seen games postponed, and it’s resulted in a double bill this weekend as City host CK United on Saturday and Kerry FC on Monday. Discussing an impressive 8-0 win in Cobh last weekend, Robinson wants to build the type of momentum that saw his Wu17s win 11 in a row to the end of last season. 

“Obviously a brilliant result and performance, I think tactically we got it right and the players implemented the couple of things we tried really well. It was great for the girls to get the goals, but also the clean sheet was important, we've been very good defensively this season and when we lose the ball or are out of possession, we're solid, so really good to see that.”  

“Looking to the weekend, it's going to be extremely busy, the timing of the CK United game Saturday is great from our point of view. We'll play our game and then we'll all head to the Cross and hope to help bring a good crowd for the girls. We got a good result the last time we played them up in Kilkenny and we just want to repeat that, we want to target a clean sheet again and get the three points.”  

“We're hoping we can build a few positive results into a bit of a run.” 

“On Monday then, we have Kerry in the refixed game. They've gotten some really good results and while we played them in pre-season, I wouldn't read too much into that. They're a good side, especially for a side which has just come into the league, and that's what you want; more competition to bring the standard across the league up as a whole. They offer a very different threat to CK so we want to get the balance right too in terms of workload on the girls and it will be two very different games tactically. Some girls will be more suited to one type of game, and we have a squad that can adapt.” 

“Two games in a weekend will be a challenge, but the target is to have six points under the belt on Monday evening.”  

WU19 PREVIEW 

Cork City’s Wu19’s bright start to the season stuttered a little in recent weeks with back-to-back narrow losses, both against Wexford Youths, both games that Manager Trish Fennelly-Hunt feels here side could have gotten pints from. 

Last week’s game against Waterford United has thrown a little question mark about the league table, meaning that City, right now, are unsure if they are in 2nd or 3rd position.  

“Yeah, Waterford was a strange game, we were 2-0 down and disappointed to be in that position, but the game itself was abandoned with 20 minutes to go.” 

“Unfortunately, Lauren Healy suffered a head injury, an ambulance had to be called and by the time it got sorted the referee decided it was too late to continue, and the game was abandoned so we're still waiting to see what the story will be, will it be awarded, or if it’ll be replayed in full or will we have to play the final 20 minutes.” 

“Lauren sprained her neck and also injured her back, so will be out for a few weeks but the main thing is that it wasn't as serious as we'd first feared.” 

  

“On the game itself, look, we weren't at our best, we were hoping for a reaction after a very narrow loss to Wexford. We were very disappointed in how we played, we weren't up to our usual standard, things on the pitch didn't go right. As a team and a coaching staff, we were just, disappointed is the word really. This week was about rectifying the problems and improving ahead of the Treaty game on Sunday. We know we are way better than we showed last weekend and with a Munster Derby to look forward to, we're confident we can get the passion and fight back.”