DCU Ladies football team got off to a bad start in their bid for O’Connor cup glory, having suffered a one point defeat to UL in Limerick on Tuesday last.
In a hard fought encounter that had many interesting match-ups, it was the home-side that emerged victorious by the narrowest of margins- 1-12 to 1-11 the final scoreline- having trailed DCU for long parts of the game.
DCU Coach Mark Fitzpatrick felt that his side had chances to see out victory but some aspects went against them: “We’re disappointed not to have won having led for most of the game. We lost a few players through injuries from hard knocks and a sin-bin at a bad time that cost us in the end.”
Certainly no player on either side was prepared to stand unceremony and some big hits resulted in injuries for both sides, but Fitzpatrick was hesitant to label it a dirty game.
“It wasn’t a dirty game by any means. It was just a good hard battle. Laura McEneaney fractured her tooth within the first few minutes, but in fairness to her she came back on. She’s tougher than a lot of people I know.”
Although happy with his team’s performance, Fitzpatrick feels that there is room for improvement looking ahead to the next game.
‘Obviously there are a few mistakes that we will need to iron out before the next day. When you lose by a point everybody takes a look at their own performances but for me, it’s the sum of the parts rather than any individual that needs to improve.’
“It’s always annoying when you lose by a point but it gives us something to work on for the next game and the team will need to be at its best to progress the next day.”
Next up for DCU is a must-win encounter against NUIG over in Galway on the 28th of February. The Westerners shipped three goals in going down by 3-15 to 1-7 to IT Sligo.
Ben Egan
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