Cork City out to avenge All-Island Cup defeat to Galway United at Turner’s Cross 

Cork City Women will be out to avenge their recent defeat to Galway United in the Avenir Sports All-Island Cup campaign when the two teams meet this Saturday in the Women’s Premier Division at Turner’s Cross, 5pm.

The Rebel Army needed to win last week in Moyne Villa by a healthy margin if they were going to qualify for the cross-border competition’s quarter-finals, and they were undone by first-half goals from Amanda Smith and Isabella Beletic.

Frank Kelleher cannot wait for the rematch, as it is the ‘perfect’ way to bounce back from what happened in Moyne Villa last week.

“I think it is the perfect opposition again because they know there will be in a fight with us next week at Turner’s Cross,” he said.

“We’ll be up for it, there’s no doubt about it. If we can get rid of those small little errors at set-pieces I think we can be in every single game for the rest of the season. I’m sure of it.” 

The thing about Galway is that Phill Thrill’s side were actually struggling for form before the game in the All-Island Cup.

The Tribeswomen were out to break a run of three defeats and a draw, and their response was a near perfect 90 minutes in Moyne Villa.

The Rebel Army were able to frustrate the home side, and that is something Kelleher stressed with one eye on this week’s meeting between the two teams.

“Very happy with the performance – two set pieces did us again on corners but the character of the team was outstanding,” he said.

“Two set pieces did us again at corners but I think the character that the team showed was outstanding. We matched them for 90 minutes in every department, I’ll be honest. 

"They had one shot on target in the second half. 

We pushed, we pushed, and we pushed but we couldn’t get that one goal back that would have put us back into it. 

"The team showed great character.” 

ENCOURAGING

The big thing for Kelleher was his players being able to get in and create chances, which meant they were in the game until the final minutes.

“Plenty to be encouraged by – we created as many chances as they did,” he explained.

“Maybe a few more than they did. We just couldn’t get that one goal that I think would have changed the situation but I think the performance and our level of fitness is at the highest level now in of competing with these teams, and our organisation is much better. 

"The character is back.” 

The problem is, the Rebel Army do not have a positive record with Saturday’s opponents after the team was absorbed into Galway United before the start of the 2023 season.

This goes right back to the first meeting, at Turner’s Cross, which ended in a 1-0 defeat for a side City managed by Danny Murphy. 

The return fixture at Eamonn Deacy Park was actually worse as Galway scored three times without any sort of reply, on a day that saw Jenna Slattery get a brace.

Last year was more of the same, with the aggregate score between the two games 10-2, with Eva Mangan and Barrett Eidson scoring at Turner’s Cross.

Will Saturday’s league game see more of the same, or even more signs of improvement by Kelleher’s players?