A winless Sligo Rovers awaits Cork City WFC this weekend at Turner’s Cross in the Women’s Premier Division, with kick-off set for 5pm on Saturday.

Danny Murphy and his players, who are second from bottom in the table, will face a team that has yet to register a single result in 2023.

City have just one point from eight games with seven defeats, so this could be another real test of Cork's character and ability.

City will go into the game looking to bounce back from last week’s 5-0 loss to Shamrock Rovers at Tallaght Stadium, a game that can certainly be split into two halves.

City were compact with how they played and they gave Rovers no clear route to goal during the opening 45 minutes.

Their defensive work was complimented by a lively showing up front, with Rovers often needing to produce last ditch tackles to stop City from scoring. 

The first chance that they created was a through ball that seemed destined for the feet of Christina Dring, but this was intercepted before it got to the striker. 

She responded by drawing a foul off Orlaith O’Mahony and Eva Mangan’s free-kick was headed towards the goal by Dring.

Amanda Budden stopped this, and Laura Shine managed a shot inside the area when City next got into the Rovers penalty area.

The more they attacked, the more their search for the opening goal frustrated Rovers. 

Aine O’Gorman went closest to scoring in the final few minutes of the first half for the Hoops and her attempt was stopped by Hannah Walsh.

All of their good work was undone with a free-kick that Jamie Thompson scored in the 47th minute. 

Rovers got four more goals in the time that was left, with Lauren Kelly completing their evening by getting the fifth in the second minute of injury time.

City hope to set the record straight against a Sligo team that lost 1-0 to Bohemians last weekend at Dalymount Park. 

That was their eighth successive defeat this season and it leaves the Bit O’Red bottom of the table.

Sligo have been narrowly losing games during this run, with their most recent defeat in Dublin a testament to that. 

Their most impressive performance was a 2-1 loss to Galway United, with Emma Doherty scoring for the Bit O’Red in the second half. They were unable to find an equaliser against a team challenging for the league title, despite creating a number of chances late in the game.

Sligo’s last visit to Cork was in August 2022 and they lost 3-2 at Turner’s Cross, with Eva Mangan scoring the winner in the 88th minute. They have one recorded victory on Leeside, and they achieved that with goals from Gemma McGuinness and Emma Doherty giving them a 2-1 win.