Kelleher unhappy as UCD foil Cork
WOMEN’S SOCCER
Daire Walsh
FOLLOWING their 2-0 defeat to UCD Waves in the Continental Tyres Women’s National League at Jackson Park, Cork City WFC manager Frank Kelleher admitted he was disappointed with the final outcome of the game.
City were on level terms during the interval, and having managed the game well for lengthy periods, Kelleher pointed to UCD’s clinical edge as a deciding factor.
“Honestly, disappointed. We’ve come up here, we were short a few bodies today. Some of our top players are not available to us.
“I think we managed the game very, very well for most of it,” Kelleher remarked.
“I think we had a chance to go 1-0 up, and their keeper made a fantastic save, and then they go down and get a goal.
“We managed to come back into the game again and push on. Again, they were clinical and went and got a second goal. Performance wise, outstanding from my group today.”
UCD broke the deadlock through Eleanor Ryan Doyle in the 54th-minute, but until this juncture in the contest, Cork had managed to frustrate the home team’s attack. Kelleher outlined the game plan that they had worked on in advance of the fixture, which he believes was executed effectively in the Kiltiernan venue.
“Well, we had a game plan. We were going to sit off, we were going to play out the back, use our goalie as a sweeper.
“Move the ball, try and unbalance them, and try and wait for their moments. Try and get them to push their back-four up a little bit, and see if we could play the long-ball in behind them.
“If you have too much distance between your three lines against UCD, they will pick you off. But if you close the spaces, and give them very little room to play, they made a lot of mistakes.
“That allowed us to work our way into the game.”
Sixth-place Cork will be aiming to push up the table in upcoming games against Peamount United, Galway WFC and Kilkenny United, and Kelleher is optimistic that they can get some points.
“Fundamentally, I believe that we are very close to getting points on the board now. If you said to me two years, we’d come up to UCD, be in the game, and be beaten 2-0, I would have said not a chance.
“But against their top side, and we were missing three of our best players today, and they will be back for the next three weeks.
“From that point of view, it will be very interesting what the next month holds for this club. I’m optimistic,” Kelleher added.