Bohemians begin their Club Orange Women’s FAI Cup campaign this afternoon (3pm) as they welcome Kerry to Dalymount Park for the first ever meeting between the two clubs in women’s football, writes Gary O’Connor.
The Gypsies will be looking to bounce back after suffering a 4-0 defeat to Shelbourne in last weekend’s All-Island Cup semi-final. The result ended an encouraging run of five games unbeaten, a spell which had seen Bohs regain confidence after a difficult start to the campaign.
Kerry arrive in Dublin having booked their place in the second round with an impressive 3-1 away victory over Drogheda United last Sunday. They will see Saturday’s tie as an opportunity to test themselves against Premier Division opposition and cause an upset.
For Bohemians, the focus is firmly on producing the right response after the disappointment of missing out on another All-Island Cup Final. Murphy felt the game was far closer than the final scoreline suggested before two quickfire set-piece goals effectively ended the contest.
Murphy said: “Disappointing. I thought the first half was okay. It was even enough. I know they were 1-0 up at halftime, but we felt in the second half that we were well in the game. We had flipped our shape a little bit to try and gain more control of the game. I thought the end of the first half, the start of the second half, we were decent but then obviously conceding two goals from set pieces is first of all very unlike us and second of all, the game is over 10 minutes into the second half. So from that point of view, really disappointing. I think, disappointing for the girls first and foremost and I think they certainly feel like they left one behind there.”
The semi-final also highlighted areas Murphy wants his side to improve as they head into another knockout competition. Having built much of their recent form on defensive organisation, conceding twice from second-phase set pieces was particularly frustrating.
Murphy believes maintaining concentration throughout games will be vital going forward.
“Consistency is a key word for us this year. Being switched on, focused on the process, nailing the basics. Again two goals from set pieces where the first contact hasn’t been the goal. It’s actually been the second or third contact on the ball after the corner which is disappointing because from a reaction point of view, we just weren’t there for a second and third phase of the corner, which it’s just not a good place to be in considering the amount of effort and time we put into practicing them. So consistency and staying in the game mentally, two key learnings from the weekend.”
One positive for Bohs is that they have another fixture immediately to focus on. Rather than dwelling on last weekend’s disappointment, the FAI Cup offers an instant opportunity to respond and continue their season.
Murphy believes having another game so quickly is exactly what the squad needs.
“I think it’s important that any game was coming this week and that we haven’t got a break, an international break or a gap week. So I think from that point of view, it’s really important just to focus the minds back in training this week and have something to aim for and as a management team that’s our role this week. We’ll build the girls back up. We’ll have them ready to go and looking forward to the game on Saturday.”
Although Kerry are unfamiliar opponents, Bohs have spent the week analysing their visitors ahead of what promises to be a competitive cup tie. Murphy expects a physical challenge and is keen to ensure his players are fully prepared.
“Yeah, we’ve been able to get a couple of games of theirs, a couple of videos, and they’re a pretty physical team, a young team too. So we’ll respect them and we’ll have a plan we feel will work against them. It’s a really good opportunity for them coming to Dalymount and playing against a Premier Division team. So, really looking forward to the day.”
With the clubs never having met before on the women’s side of the game there is naturally more uncertainty than there would be against familiar Women’s Premier Division opposition. Murphy admits that makes preparation slightly different, although he is confident his side will be ready.
“The rest of the teams in the league, we’re very familiar with at this stage and it can be generally tweaked here and there in terms of when you play a team from one part of the season to the next. But obviously an element of the unknown this weekend. So the fact we’ve got a couple of videos will help us. But obviously, we won’t know the ins and outs of each individual player as much as we would a Premier Division team. So look it’ll be a little bit of caution there, but we’ll have the girls well prepped.”
With fixtures continuing to come thick and fast, Murphy also confirmed there could be opportunities for different players to feature, while balancing the needs of the club’s other women’s teams.
“I think it’s an opportunity to utilise the squad this weekend. So that will be the aim. But obviously we have to be considerate also that there’s key games for our development team and our 17s squad this weekend. So we will assess it as the week goes on and we’ll pick a team that we feel first of all will win the game and represent the club really well as they always do but also that we are conscious that the club as a whole have three games on the women’s side this weekend. So there will be a bit of planning going on this week.”
With a place in the quarter-finals at stake, Bohemians will be aiming to put last weekend behind them and begin a new cup run in front of their home supporters.
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