Cork City women show fight as Robinson finds first reward

A turbulent campaign for Cork City Women finally found a fragment of light last weekend. It has been hard to locate any all season.

Frank Kelleher’s mid-summer departure left assistant Craig Robinson to take on the hotseat. He stepped up earlier this month, inheriting a side stuck to the floor of the Women’s Premier Division table and in search of any kind of momentum.

Now, they’ve got their first point on the board, after a performance that easily could have yielded three. Nonetheless, he was satisfied with the showing.

‘Happy with performance. Look, a point at any stage, where we are in terms of the season is a positive,” he said, after the draw with DLR Waves last Saturday. “At the same time, you're kind of looking at it and like Zoe [Finnerty] hits the crossbar there, it could have been a goal. Amy [McCarthy] had a great chance at the end there. At the same time, they had a lot of chances in the first half as well, so we’ll take the point and we’ll go from there.

‘I'll be honest with myself, I suppose it's taken me time to kind of get used to it [being the manager]. Obviously, I was assistant manager, but when you do step into it naturally, it's a little bit of extra pressure on you, that kind of thing,” Robinson explained. “So it's trying to implement what you want to do a little bit different and change those few little bits.

“I suppose coming from even being the U17s manager the last few years to try thrust up players and get them through, because we know how good they are. So it's good to get the first point and hopefully that will show them that we're going in the right direction.” 

TACTICAL TWEAK

One of those differences was plain to see. A switch to three at the back, a system he and Kelleher had mulled over before, but never fully committed to.

“It was something we were toying with, I must say. Myself and Frank [Kelleher] spoke about it the start of the year to try to get that three in, and I suppose we just didn't have the key personnel at the time.

“With a few extra signings and a few of the younger players coming through, now we have the players that we feel are good enough to try it,” he remarked. “But at the same time, it's going to be a learning curve.

“It is one of their first games playing it, they’ve changed and adapted to it within games, but from the start and going the whole 90 minutes, it’s good to see.” 

The response to adversity was perhaps most encouraging. A leveller early in the second half might once have floored this young side. Instead, they steadied and pushed back, even if they couldn’t find the winner by conclusion.

“I suppose that’s something that we've trying to be working on the last few weeks, that kind of mental resilience,” he explained. “Look it's a goal, it's a goal. It doesn't make a difference.

Go and get the next ball. If we lose it from a set piece, let’s get the next pass. Bad pass, let’s get the next pass.

“I’m delighted to see that mental kind of strength starting to come. They’re a young group, so it’s going to take time. But it's having that patience with them.”