WPD Preview: Shelbourne vs Cork City

“No-one expects us to achieve anything. That just drives me on and now we’re ready to shut everybody up” Cork City FC open their League of Ireland Women's Premier Division campaign this weekend with a trip to Tolka Park where they will face 2022 Double Winners Shelbourne. The return of Shamrock Rovers in the WNL after a 10-year absence has seen a lot of players moving around the Dublin Clubs and City manager Danny Murphy feels that it means his team are flying under the radar ahead of the new season. “I love the league; I listen to the podcasts and shows, I see the media coverage and there’s been so much talk about every other team in the league. No-one expects us to achieve anything. That just drives me on and now we’re ready to shut everybody up,” a passionate Murphy stated, continuing “I’ve said to the players, We’re Cork City Football Club, we’re a big club and now we need to start showing it - no-one is expecting anything from us, the worst thing they can do is underestimate us. We’re going up to Tolka to win the game. We’re not going up to sit back and hope to get a draw. We will show up at all the top teams, confident that we can beat them” From the outside it might appear that there have only been a small number of additions to the City squad that finished so strongly last season, but Murphy is clearly happy with his squad. “I think last season we were still looking at how individuals on the opposition might hurt us, now it’s about how we work as a team ourselves, not as a group of individuals.” “We have a lot of the academy players coming in who finished strongly with us last season, and they’ve made it more competitive for places and that’s driven everyone on a little. We do have a lot of last year’s squad back, but I think we’re stronger in terms of the core, with the way the younger players have come through and some of the players we’ve brought in just to add different experiences and competition. I said all last season the league position didn’t reflect the quality of the players we had, I’ve huge trust in them.” Over the course of the off-season, Dermot Usher took over the club and Murphy feels “his interest in the Women’s side is exciting. He wants it to be, like I do, the best women’s side and academy in the country. And when we are, everything else will follow. But we must build it and grow it.” “Dermot hasn’t come in and made a load of silly promises, he’s assessing things, and he wants to look at structures and build on the good where we can. He’s spoken with everyone and is really thoughtful in his approach. Look, I could have asked him to give me a big bag of cash and bring in a load of players, but that’s short term, instead we’ve sat down and spoken about how things should be done.” “About how we can improve and how we can build the profile of the women’s teams, make the section self-sufficient so that we’re not looking to be reliant anyone to subsidise us, which takes the pressure off everyone. It’s exactly what I wanted to do coming in, and we both get on well. He understands where we’re at, and where things need to be.” It was a long off-season, and everyone is just looking forward to getting back to competitive action “Yeah, we’re ready, the girls have looked after themselves in the off season. They had their programmes, and all came back in good shape, it meant we’ve been able to progress quickly to working with the ball once they were back. We’re looking forward to Saturday now, it feels like it’s been forever.”