WNL Preview - City vs Treaty

Cork City FC Women face into this weekend’s Munster Derby with Treaty United hurting from last weekend’s loss to 2021 champions Peamount United, but with a camp that is buzzing ahead of the final game of the season, says manager Paul Farrell.

“No matter how many points are between us and Treaty and no matter where we are in the table, it’s a game you always want to win. There’s a great rivalry building between the two teams and the games are always competitive” said Farrell, “It’s great to test yourselves against the top teams and that’s where we want to get to, but the Treaty games are the first games you look for when the fixtures come out. We don’t have a Cork derby yet, though hopefully Cobh will continue the great work going on down there, so this is really our derby game, and we want to finish the season well, and ahead of them”.

While the Drive for 2k is focusing a lot of media attention which the management and players are excited by, the focus is on the 90 minutes Saturday and Farrell is confident of having a strong side to choose from. “Rachel O’Reilly is still out with her hamstring and Kristen Semple has had to leave a week early after being great for us over recent weeks, so Abby McCarthy will come back in. We have a few niggles and knocks but it being the final game of the season, the players will strap an ankle and go for it, they all want to be involved this weekend for a Munster Derby with what we hope will be a big attendance.”

City are coming off a defeat away to Peamount United, but Farrell wants his team to brush it off, learn from it and focus on the positives. “The funny thing was, when we go back and re-watch the game, and look at the statistics, we have a lot to be proud of. We had 49% possession and turned over the ball well and I created more shots on target against them than our previous games, but the quality they have means that you just can’t make any errors, they’re clinical in punishing those and that’s what happened. But I’m really proud that after falling so far behind the players stayed going and actually put in a string second half performance”.

A win in the final game of the season would be huge for the club, ensuring a finish ahead of Treaty United and there’s a massive focus of finishing string and showing the people of Cork what this team is all about. “We’re encouraging everyone to get out, the players are at the end of a tough season but they’ve been fantastic all year, put in a huge effort and we want to go out with a bang, they’ve worked so hard, are a fantastic group and we would love to see a big support cheering them on, they really deserve it”.

Tickets are available from Eventbrite.