The DCU Ladies Senior Football team were in O’Connor Cup action last Thursday, as they travelled to Galway to face NUIG. The match resulted in an 8-point triumph for DCU but it wasn’t a walk in the park by any stretch of the imagination.
Captain Laura McEnaney believes it was the unfamiliarity with NUIG that caused some early problems for the Dublin outfit:
“We went into the game not knowing much about them and we started poorly. It was level at half-time so we had a big challenge ahead of us in the second half but we started to play how we normally play and came out on top.”
The second-half performance that McEnaney alluded to was one of steel as the side conceded just one point from play in the entire half. Even more impressively, the DCU defence was somewhat weakened as the captain explained: “We were missing one of our key defenders, Leona Ryder, so that was a massive challenge. It was tough going into a big game knowing that one of your key players is out. Galway had some very fast forwards but we stuck with them and thankfully we came out on top.
“We don’t think Leona is going to be back [for the next round] so that’s a bit of a blow but we just have to get on with it. We’ve dealt with it so far and hopefully, we’ll deal with it again.”
The DCU Ladies team have performed with determination and passion so far this season and it can be argued that this is as a result of last season’s semi-final heart-break against UUJ.
“There’s probably about 10 of those players [in the current squad] who have played on the DCU team last year. We all know how it felt when we lost to Jordanstown by a point, so we hope to not have that feeling again this year.”
On top of that, there’s still the prospect of getting another chance to beat UL after the Limerick outfit beat DCU already in this season’s competition.
“We could meet UL again in the semi-final so all guns will be blazing if we ever get the opportunity again.”
Eoin Sheahan
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