O'Rourke believes ladies can compete strongly in Division 2

Ladies football

While Cavan ladies ultimately fell to Tipperary, manager Michael O’Rourke felt there were plenty of positives to take from his first competitive match in charge.

“Our plan was to set up defensively with that ‘out’ for the forwards but you’re dealing with a lot of talent there in Tipperary, they’re a team that are looking to get out of Division 2 and move forward. They’re a team that have been working together for four or five years so we knew what we were up against,” O’Rourke stated.

“We tried to put a bit of structure to the girls, we had 11 debutants who haven’t played at this level, every one of them gave us as much as we possibly could.

“I think we’ll take a lot from it, if we take a look back at the video. Even their 1-2 in the second half, you’ll find it was from balls that we actually had that we gave away.

“So you’re kind of looking at that and saying if you can fix that… if you walk away from a game and say ‘look, that’s as good as we are’, I think you’re in trouble but if we look at that and think of the amount of ball we actually gave away while we were in possession attacking, if we can fix that or limit it to a certain number, I think we’re competing with the best of them in this division.”

In tough conditions, Cavan won a lot of ball from their own kick-outs but, said O’Rourke, more needs to be done on advancing up the pitch once they have secured that possession.

“The one thing that stood out to us in the last four challenge matches we played was that we had an 83% to 88% retention rate on our kick-outs. Again, it’s bedding new girls into that. I think the emphasis seems to be on winning the kick-out, where we need to win it now and move it up the field.

“It’s just that knowledge that when Ruth Gilsenan gets a ball, that the corner-back is going wide and supporting. Sometimes it’s that hesitancy at a different level to maybe make that break in case it breaks down. We’re getting that into them, we can’t fault the girls.

“I think the commitment that they have given is fantastic, I think a lot of them have played against a higher standard of footballer than they ever would have faced and I think the realisation with a lot of them in the dressing-room after is that we’re actually as good as what’s out there.

“I think we’ll take a lot from that and we’ll move forward and hopefully, with a bit more work on our forward line, a bit more movement and emphasis on an out ball, we can take a few scalps in this and build on it.”

The sides were level at 0-2 apiece at half-time but O’Rourke felt Tipperary, who kicked a lot of wides, looked more threatening in attack in that first half.

“You were in it at half-time, you’re looking at Tipperary and you can see where the potential for their scores is going to come from. You’re looking at our side and you’re kind of thinking, ‘where am I getting five or six points?’

“When the two points went over and then the goal went in, you knew that five points on that day was going to be a massive hill to climb. But the important thing was we didn’t drop the heads and we just kept working to the very end.”

A mix-up led to Tipperary’s goal but, again, it’s all part of a bedding-in process, the manager said.

“I think speaking at the end there, our goalkeeper was saying she went up and one of our girls came in and there was a bump between the two of them and she had the ball at that stage. But look, this is communication, it’s girls getting to know and trust each other.

“If you’re coming from a junior club or whatever and you have to do everything, now you’re realising there is someone else in there that I can trust to clear that ball. It’s going to be a process with these girls but they’re willing to learn and we’re hoping it will take us somewhere.

“After that now I think there is a little bit of injection into it. We were up against quality there and we probably won’t see that quality again in the league, we contended with it and I think we took a lot from it. Hopefully the games will come thick and fast now and we can keep improving.”