Galway United women's side turn focus to League clash with Treaty Utd
GALWAY United manager Phil Trill generally offers a calm and composed outlook in post-match interviews, but no doubt there are times when his patience is tested to the full and Saturday's opening half performance was surely one of those occasions.
Opponents Cork City are not enjoying a good season as they prop up the table in the Women's National League and had only scored nine goals in their previous 15 league games. Yet here on Galway soil, they had taken a two goal lead in the opening 15 minutes against a team challenging for title honours.
Of course, there was a turnabout on the resumption and Lucy Jane Grant's goal eventually gave United a 3-2 success but, no doubt, the half time team talk played a part in the home recovery and after the game Trill broke down different elements that required fixing.
“Firstly, I'm definitely not happy to concede two goals, but we allowed Cork to be good in that opening half and maybe took them for granted. We won the second half comfortably because we played well.
"We were aggressive and we didn't go backwards and sideways. In recent weeks we have been playing better, but we need to be sharper in the final third. Overall, as in any game, three points is the objective and we eventually secured them today.”
The manager also referenced the toll 120 minutes of cup action took on the players the week previously as he made a number of changes to the lineup.
“Look, we have a squad of players and changes were made to freshen matters up. We need competition for places. Other players need opportunities and it is also important to hear different voices. We control games a lot, but we don't kill them off and maybe that is something we have to work on.
“We are now on the run into the end of the season. We have seven games left and we are in a challenging position. Sure, we have to go to the leaders Athlone and have Shelbourne here in our last match. There is everything to play for. We are always looking to make more progress and we want to secure more points than last season. We are well on target to do that.”
Galway United return to Eamonn Deacy Park for the second weekend in succession on Saturday when they host fifth placed Treaty United in front of the TG4 cameras at 7.35pm.
The sides have met on two previous occasions this season, with United winning 1-0 courtesy of an Emma Doherty finish in the FAI Senior Cup in July and in an earlier league meeting in Limerick, goals in each half from Chloe Bergin and Doherty saw the visitors secure a 2-0 victory.