Shane Ronayne hails Cork spirit after battling back in tough conditions to secure a point

CORK ladies football manager Shane Ronayne was pleased with his team’s battling qualities having emerged from Piltown, Kilkenny, with a last-gasp Lidl National League Division 1 draw with Waterford last Sunday.

Cork trailed to the entire fixture following the concession of a third-minute goal and were, at one juncture, seven points behind. Down 2-4 to 1-3 at the break, Daire Kiely’s first-half goal and Erika O’Shea’s second-half green flag levelled matters heading into the closing stages.

Emma Murray looked to have won it for Waterford late on but a nerveless Katie Quirke free, deep into injury time, earned Cork a 2-9 to 2-9 draw.

“We won a game last week playing some great football and today we showed battling qualities to get a draw,” Cork manager Shane Ronayne commented.

“You need to have all those qualities and characteristics if you are going to be successful as a team. Things weren’t going right for us today. Players just didn’t play as well as they did the last week. In fairness to them, they did respond and dug out a draw.

“We were seven points down at one stage and got it back to four at half-time. I thought we were going to kick on when we drew level but in fairness to Waterford, they went back up the field and took the lead twice more.

“Look, Waterford are a very good team and should have beaten Kerry last week. I watched that video a couple of times. They are a good side down here, I don’t know, maybe conditions suit them better than us.” 

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The state of the Piltown pitch drew much pre and post-match chatter. Waterford played Kerry at the same Kilkenny venue the previous week but against Cork, the heavy state of a poor playing surface made free-flowing football next to impossible.

“We all know pitches are difficult to get but I don’t believe the narrative that this game had to played in Piltown, county Kilkenny, I just don’t think that’s good enough,” Ronayne stated.

“The actual condition of the pitch was very poor for a National League Division 1 game. We are trying to promote this game and there is lots of great work being done within teams, the LGFA and the media.

“It is not good enough to play a senior Division 1 League game on a pitch that heavy. 

There is a perfectly good sand-based all-weather pitch beside it which is in fantastic shape.

“We are disappointed about that but at the end of the day, it was the same conditions for both teams. I am delighted with the way our girls responded, especially the younger girls on an energy-sapping ground. They kept going until the end and I am delighted with that.”