Cork boss Shane Ronayne: Good boost to beat Meath but work to be done

CORK manager Shane Ronayne was happy to finish the league on a high with a win over Meath at Páirc Uí Rinn but also said the Rebels have plenty of work to do ahead of the championship.

“Yea look we’re happy enough with the win and we finished the league strong but the lasting impression was the second half wasn’t great to be involved in or to watch.

“I always felt there was going to be a kick in Meath after some of their results in the league and with Vikki Wall and Emma Duggan back they were always going to be a stronger side.

“But we dug out the win in the end. We were well on top in the first half and got sucked in for the second half and didn’t adapt to the way Meath were playing.

“But that’s something to work on and we have plenty to work on ahead of the championship and we know that.

Meath have beaten Cork the last few times they have played them and the big thing we wanted today was the win and we got that done.

“A game like that will stand to us and for some of the younger players, they will learn a lot from it and that’s all good for us in the coming weeks.

“We have competition for places now and I thought Sarah Murphy had a great game in goal in her first start of the league.

“She made a couple of crucial saves and but for them it could have been a different result.”

Reflecting on their league position Shane said: “We finished the league on a high with three wins in a row and if there had been semi-finals we would have been in one.

“So we can be very happy with the position we are in, but we have five weeks of hard work ahead of us before the start of the Munster championship against Tipperary.

“We will give the girls a few days off first before that hard work starts next weekend.”

Cork forward Doireann O'Sullivan made her first start of the league and Shane confirmed that it was always the plan for her to only play 30 minutes.

“It was always the plan for Doireann to play the first half and come off then, the same with the camogie girls as they had another game on Sunday.

“We are just minding everybody as the end of April and all of May is going to be very busy so we just have to mind them all with the amount of games coming up.

“Come championship we are going to need them all and that’s what the league has given us, a chance to give some players experience and we are very happy with that."