Team News- Home vs Sligo 14-09-24 13 September 2024

Last week we had an emphatic 5-1 win over Bohs. It was an excellent result and performance that I’m sure you were very pleased with.

“Yes, very pleased, particularly after going one nil down in the first two minutes. The reaction from the players to going behind to that early goal was what you like to see. There was no panic and no frustration that set in, it was just to go about doing the job and they did it very, very well.”

You mentioned last week that you wanted to see us play forward more and be more direct, and that was definitely evident against Bohs. It really showed how dangerous we can be, so were the players as a group satisfied with the game and showing off all the progress and hard work being put in?

“Yes, they were very happy with the game. Obviously you’d have still liked to maybe have scored a few more but I think it was more that the manner of the performance was the most pleasing aspect of it. I think it was the way they passed the ball, the way they moved it, the chances that they created, and it looked like everybody was enjoying playing football which was really nice to see.”

This week we take on Sligo, who we rather comfortably beat 4-1 last time out in the league. If we can perform like we did against Bohs, do you think we can come away with a similar result this time?

“You’d like to think so but I don’t think football ever works out that kind of way. I think we’ve had several games this year where we’ve played at that same kind of level that we did against Bohs but we didn’t get the result at the end of it. It nearly always comes down to trying to convert those chances that we do create, but we’re hoping that we can actually try and add to how we played last weekend. Training has been good this week and we’ll be looking to actually try and be a little bit better than we were last week.”

Sligo haven’t registered a league win yet this season so what type of encounter are you predicting for this game?

“They’ve been very unlucky. I watched their game against Galway which they lost 2-1 and they caused an awful lot of trouble for Galway. They were very impressive in their cup quarter final against DLR Waves and got the win in the (UCD) Bowl, which most people didn’t expect them to do, so I think they’re very difficult to try and break down and I think that’s probably the big change that they’ve made from when we played them earlier in the year. They’ve become a little bit more organised, a little bit more defensive, a little bit more hard to beat and will try to hit you on a counter attack. So again, it will probably come down to us trying to play at a good tempo, a good urgency and making sure we’re ready for the battle.”

In last week’s game we had two players netting their first goals for the club in Fiona Owens and Emily Corbet. What did it mean to them both to get off the mark?

“You could see by the smiles on their faces, they were delighted to finally get a goal. Very pleased for Fiona who’s been out for about a year and a half with a long-term injury. Since she’s come back, she’s got better and better with the more game time she gets and she was very impressive last weekend, it’s no surprise she got Player of the Match, she was really good and I think she still has more levels to go which is really a good positive for the club. Also for Emily who had a little dip in form when at Wexford, so it’s nice when you come in and you begin to settle in and you always have that target on your back when you’re a centre-forward about trying to score goals, so it’s more a relief for her to finally get one of many that I’m sure she’ll get.”

Lastly, are there any injury worries heading into this weekend’s fixture?

“The only injury worry we have is Summer (Lawless). She’ll be assessed tomorrow to see how she is. She picked up a thigh strain during the week. So thankfully that’s the only one that we have.”