Kickoff in Tallaght Stadium is at 5.30 pm on Saturday. Underage schoolgirl and schoolboy teams go free! – email to book. Coverage on LOITV


In Cork, all the goals came in the second half. Were you happy to leave with the three points and a high-scoring win?

Yeah, it was a good performance overall. Even though we didn’t score any goals in the first half we were very professional in how we went about our business. We dominated the game from the very first minute all the way to the last minute, so I was very happy with the overall performance.

There was some free-flowing football on show, especially for the second and third goals by Abbie and Stephanie, who finished so well. Was that particularly pleasing?

It was because it all came from certain areas that we’d been working on for a very long time. Even the last goal, those overlapping runs can cause carnage to other teams. It’s pleasing when the stuff you’ve been working on for a number of months all comes off in one game.

Joy got on the scoresheet again along with the fourth goal you mentioned, Melissa’s first in the league, so is it good that the goals are coming from different areas?

It’s one of those where everybody goes to mark people in the box and they forget about Joy, so it’s interesting that she has two goals and two headers. Yeah, it is, and I think that’s probably our style of play and that’s the way it’s always going to be. We’re not going to have one out-and-out goalscorer and that’s what makes us a very hard opponent to play against. You’re not just focused on trying to stop one person, we have several players within the team that are capable of scoring goals.

Tiegan Ruddy came off the bench to make her first appearance for the club at Turner’s Cross. How did she do?

She did well. She hadn’t played in a long time so in terms of match practice, we’ll try and give her as many opportunities as we can to get her up to speed. She’s a very good, talented player and with the additions we’ve made and the squad that we already had – there’s great competition for places there.

Goalkeeper Amanda Budden was forced off with a knee injury in the first half so Summer Lawless came on for her league debut. How is Amanda?

She went for a scan during the week, we’re just waiting to see the surgeon to see the full extent of the injury and get a report on it. So, we don’t really know the full extent of it but we should know in the next couple of days.

Shauna Fox didn’t play last week because she had a cold. Meanwhile, Maria Reynolds played for the Under 19s at the weekend. How are they looking for Sligo and is anyone else a doubt?

Both did a full week of training and I think we’ll try and ramp up Maria with more time with the 19s but Shauna should come straight back in to be fit and available. Jess Hennessy has a slight injury, she missed one of the training sessions during the week but we fully expect her to be OK. Other than Amanda, we have a full squad to pick from.

The Hoops beat Sligo 2-1 on opening day with a late winner by Áine O’Gorman. They have only one win this season so far, and that was against bottom club Cork. What have you made of them?

They’ve actually been very impressive since the break. They lost to Athlone but when you look back on the footage of the game, they were probably the better side on the night. The same last week against Wexford, Sligo caused them an awful lot of trouble but Wexford just seemed to take their chances when they came along. They’ve good players in Casey Howe and Emma Doherty up top, so there is a threat there that we’re going to have to be very wary of. I think they’re one of those sides that have been putting in good performances but just haven’t been getting the results.

Schoolgirl and schoolboy teams go free in Tallaght on Saturday. Will it be good to be back at home and will that initiative add to the positive vibe in the ground again?

Of course it will. We always love playing in Tallaght. The more people that are there, screaming, making noise and creating more of an atmosphere, that adds an extra bounce to every single one of the players. The more people that come along, the better it is for us.