Kick-out change the key for Cork says Fitzgerald
certainly CORK manager Ephie Fitzgerald said that their decision to pressure the Kerry kick outs more in the second half made an awful difference.
“We were letting them out very easy in the first half so we pressed higher from the start of the second half and we turned them over quite a bit. All of the Kerry girls are good footballers and they worked the ball too easily to their forwards.
“The big thing for us at halftime was to counteract this. Even when they did get the ball we kept the pressure on. I don’t think the fluency was in our game in the first half either. We looked a little bit nervous for some reason. Once we got going though, when we ran at them they couldn’t cope with us.”
Fitzgerald said that he had seven girls that joined his panel during the week after their Leaving Cert exams. They will add to the quality of his squad make competition for places even harder.
One of these girls – Saoirse Noonan – came on and scored two goals and two points. However, Fitzgerald preferred to laud the contribution of one of his more experienced players on the team.
“The driving force today for me was Ciara O’Sullivan. She took the game by the scruff of the neck. At half-time she said in the dressing room that they were making excuses and it was time to stand up.
“Nobody stood up better that Ciara herself. She’s a real leader for us both on and off the pitch. Overall we are thrilled with the victory and we will enjoy the rest of the week.”