City WFC still looking for first win of year
SOCCER
Daire Walsh
CORK CITY WFC defender Ciara McNamara acknowledged a level of frustration at not being able to come away with a win from their trip to Bohemians in the Women’s National League last Saturday after the game ended three all.
Despite finding the net three times in north Dublin – a Lauren Egbuloniu brace and a Laura Shine single – they conceded an equal number of goals to ensure their search for a first win in 2021 will continue for another week.
“We were a bit inconsistent really in our performance,”McNamara said after their latest contest.
“There was good moments and there’s positives to take from it, but there’s definitely things we can improve on for next week.
“The games are always lively between the two of us.
“We knew that coming in, but as I said we’re just frustrated a small little bit that we came away with a point today and not three.
“We know we have the fitness, we have the quality. It’s just a matter of keeping that quality, not conceding early on like we did [a fourth-minute Erica Burke goal].
“That has affected our performance a little bit. We just have to get those errors out of our game and improve for next week.”
Now one of the most experienced players in the squad, McNamara is lining up alongside a host of gifted youngsters on a weekly basis in the WNL.
One such talent to emerge in recent years is Éabha O’Mahony and she isn’t alone in this regard.
“She [O’Mahony] is a quality player. I’ve seen her coming up. I’ve coached her when she was 12 years of age, so I know what she’s capable of.
“It’s just a matter of keeping her on her toes and keep pushing her to be what she can.
“She’s great with the team and there’s other young girls there like Eva Mangan. She’s 16 years of age and it’s scary what she can do at 16.”
In comparison to a truncated 2020, the fixtures are coming thick and fast in the current campaign.
This Saturday’s visit of DLR Waves to Turner’s Cross will be the first of five consecutive weekends that City are in action and this is something McNamara is keen to embrace.
“It’s brilliant because when you have a stop-start season, it’s very hard to build momentum.
“Last year was a short season, so it was easier to build momentum.
“Hopefully now we can knuckle down for the next couple of weeks and improve on things we can improve on.
“Just work on things we’re doing well all the time,” said McNamara.