Despite being denied victory by Joy Ralph’s 88th minute goal, Cork City manager Danny Murphy admitted his side ‘probably didn’t deserve’ all three points from their SSE Airtricity Women’s Premier Division clash with Shamrock Rovers at Tallaght Stadium last Saturday.

Having held firm during an opening period that saw the hosts largely dominating possession, City broke the deadlock on 49 minutes when Hoops defender Jessica Hennessy put the ball into her own net after frantically chasing down Colleen Kennedy O’Connell as the industrious Cork striker raced towards an empty goal.

This looked set to earn the visiting Leesiders a second consecutive triumph over Rovers in the 2024 top-flight season, but Ralph’s deflected finish off a late free-kick ensured the teams were inseparable in the end.

Another success over the Dubliners would have represented a significant scalp, but in an overall context, Murphy (who was a league winner with the Rovers men’s team as a player in 2010) is pleased with how his charges are progressing at the moment.

“It would have been a good result and to get three points, but if we’re really honest, we probably didn’t deserve three points. We didn’t play particularly well, but for us there is a lot of positives to be taken out of it.

“We worked really hard in the second half, we looked like a team who wanted to fight for each other and last year we wouldn’t have done that,” Murphy remarked after Saturday’s game.

“The improvements for us are that we’ve played Shamrock Rovers twice this year and we’ve taken four points.

“That’s a positive for me. It’s tough to come up here and win. They were probably the better team, but we’ve come out with a draw from a winning position.

“Sometimes you just have to accept what it was and we’re still improving. We’re still unbeaten in the last three games and we’ve got to keep trying to get better.”

Following results elsewhere over the course of the day, City ended last weekend in sixth spot in the Women’s Premier Division table.

Their 2024 campaign to date is already a world away from what transpired in 2023 – when Cork finished bottom of the league with just six points to their name out of a total of 20 games.

There are seven fixtures left for the Leesiders to improve on their current points haul of 17 and the return of an old face to their squad will certainly help in this endeavour.

Becky Cassin started last Saturday’s game after sealing her return to the club for a second spell days earlier and Murphy is glad to have the Wicklow native at his disposal once again.

“Becky is a big, big influence in the dressing room. Very determined to want to improve and get better.

“She’s just got that winning mentality and her experience as well that she brings to the dressing room is massive. Having her back will only help and make us a better team,” Murphy added.