Kelleher identifies absent stars as key factor in Cork defeat
WOMEN’S SOCCER
Daire Walsh
FOLLOWING his side’s 2-0 away loss to Peamount United in the Continental Tyres Women’s National League last Saturday, Cork City WFC manager Frank Kelleher acknowledged that the absence of four first-choice players was of major significance.
A brace of goals by Amber Barrett ensured that the Dublin side claimed all three points at Greenogue, and although he was pleased with large aspects of the performance, Kelleher felt it was always going to be difficult when they weren’t at full strength.
“I think we took the game to Peamount for large periods of the second-half, and conceded a sloppy goal. We underhit the pass, they broke and got the second, and the game is over at that stage. The difficulty is that we’re missing four of our starters. They’re away on holidays,” Kelleher remarked.
“For that reason, it cost today. The girls that came in did a fantastic job. Two players were making their debut for us today, and I thought they did well. Courtney O’Keeffe at right-back, and Mary Barrett at left-back.
“I think there were periods of time where we did dominate the game. Peamount had a couple of chances, but nothing out of the ordinary really.”
A 28th-minute Barrett finish had left Cork chasing game in the second-half, but with Clare Shine dropping back from her role as a central striker, they opted for a fresh attacking set-up. Kelleher believes this change generally worked well, but admitted their final delivery proved to be their achilles heel on the night.
“We went into a positional change. What we wanted to do was to get Clare more on the ball. To put Tara O’Gorman and Danielle Sheehy as the outlet as a two, and get Clare to play in that little pocket. I think it worked very, very well for us, and it caused them a lot of problems. It’s just that final pass, that final ball just didn’t happen for us today.”
Along with the likes Saoirse Noonan, Megan Burke and Stacey Paul, City also lined out without the suspended Amanda Budden for this game. However, Eve Badana (who has represented Canada and Ireland at various stages of international football) produced an impressive performance between the sticks for the visitors, and Kelleher is delighted to have two top-class goalkeepers in his squad.
“That’s why she’s been selected for the international World Student Games side. Eve is a top goalkeeper. She’s played with Canada U17s, so she did a great job for us today. Really, really good. We’re very blessed, we’ve two very good goalkeepers in the club,” Kelleher added.