Ephie Fitzgerald surprised at ease of victory in Mallow
CORK manager Ephie Fitzgerald was surprised with the ease of his sides victory.
“We were expecting the game to be closer. We got a great start and the goals probably changed the complexion of it and at half time we were up 13 points so it was difficult for Kerry but in fairness to them for 15 minutes of the second half they came back into it and got a goal and possibly should have got another”.
Fitzgerald was very pleased with his side’s attitude to the game. “We are after a long lay off and we are only back three weeks so I wanted to see was the girls attitude and desire there and it was, I was happy as we were missing most of the older players but with the likes of Ciara O’Sullivan and them it’s an in-built thing, the desire is always there and long may that continue.
“The likes of Melissa Duggan at corner back, she’s a great bit of stuff, she doesn’t say boo when she’s around but when she’s on the pitch she’s a fierce competitor, she did very well.
“Likewise Sinead Cotter, they learn from the older group what it takes to be successful. The girls mind themselves and while they would have enjoyed themselves over the Christmas they would never let themselves go”.
Fitzgerald is looking forward to Cork’s next game away to Armagh.
“It will be a nice trip for some of the younger girls to mix with the older ones, they are always very welcoming to new girls on the panel.
“We have a few injuries so we will have to access those but I don’t expect any of the older girls to be back for the Armagh game,” he concluded.
Kerry manager Graham Shine said he had expected a hard game and that’s exactly what he got from Cork for his first competitive game as team manager.
“It was a tough day at the office, we have had only four training sessions so we knew that it would be tough, I wanted to see how high the bar is, we saw that today so it gives us plenty to work on now. I started our strongest team today to see what standard we are at. I wasn’t happy with the first half. I was delighted with the third quarter, we worked hard but you could see the legs going in the fourth. We are in a heavy training program at the moment and that’s what we are working on,” Shine said.
Shine said that Kerry’s training is geared towards the Championship.
“When we come out of the league we want our fitness levels to be at a standard to where we can start training properly for the championship. That’s our goal really (and) obviously of course to stay in division one as well. But it’s all going to be a work in progress.
“We introduced a lot of new girls in the second half, Sarah Murphy, Erin Finucane, Niamh Carmody, these girls haven’t played senior before Miriam O’Keeffe hasn’t played for a few years, and it will take them a while to get used to the pace and the physicality of the game. “We will strive to get to the level of the likes of Cork’s running game and that will be our aim.”
Shine is looking forward to welcoming Dublin to Castleisland next weekend. “We will give it a shot but we will continue our training process throughout the week and stick to our programme,” he said.