City boss still upbeat despite Women’s All-Island Cup defeat
Daire Walsh
DESPITE his side falling to a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Shelbourne in Group B of the Women’s All-Island Cup at Tolka Park last Saturday, Cork City manager Danny Murphy wasn’t feeling overly despondent in the aftermath of the game.
While an opening-half hat-trick from Jemma Quinn for Shels effectively put paid to the Leesiders’ chances of reaching the knockout rounds of the competition for a second straight season, Murphy was pleased to give game time to some of the fringe players in his squad.
There was a total of nine changes to the team that had started the previous weekend’s 1-1 draw with DLR Waves in the Women’s Premier Division and with a long domestic campaign ahead of them, the former City men’s left-back stressed these players will be required for games further down the line.
“We’ve got a lot of girls who haven’t really had a lot of game time and we’re trying to give them all game time.
“The majority of them got 90 minutes under their belt today. We knew it wasn’t going to be an easy game, it was going to be difficult,” Murphy acknowledged on Saturday.
“We’ve managed to get girls the game time we were looking to do and we’ve got to build on that.
“Try to get in more friendlies and games, so we can keep them fit. Because as I said before, everyone is going to be needed.
“We need everyone fit and be able to play.”
Although there will be a final All-Island Cup group game against Cliftonville on May 18, City are back on Women’s Premier Division duty away to Sligo Rovers on Saturday.
This comes on the heels of Cork playing in Dublin for three consecutive ties – including the aforementioned clash against DLR that was moved to the UCD Bowl due to Turner’s Cross not being able to host the game.
Whereas the previous encounters in the capital against DLR and Bohemians had 3pm starts, Saturday’s encounter with Shelbourne took place an hour earlier.
Murphy admitted this wasn’t ideal for his squad and it is something that may need to be looked at for future fixtures.
“It isn’t easy coming up to Dublin and you’re having a two o’clock kick-off. Because most of the girls are leaving their house at a quarter to seven in the morning.
“To get to the bus and get to travel up,” Murphy added.
“It’s not ideal playing at two o’clock and it’s something we have to look at and maybe speak to the league about.
“I don’t think two o’clock kick-offs are going to be healthy to anyone, because it’s too much of an early start.
“You’re training Friday night and then you’re travelling at half seven in the morning. It’s not ideal.”