A TIME TO DELIVER
O’Rourke expecting tough battle in Leinster decider
IF you look at it, there’s plenty of similarities between a pregnancy and this season with the Wicklow ladies footballers.
There’s the whole pre-season thing where the hard work is done, and the dream begins.
Then there’s the various stages as you go through the pregnancy, dream gets bigger, more stress, more organisation, more helpers, lots of oohing and aahing and getting ready for the big day/days, tired bodies, maybe a little bit of crankiness (on everybody’s part, let’s be fair), but always the dream, always the hope and belief that the dream will be delivered.
Wicklow boss Mick O’Rourke is on the cusp of two deliveries at the time of this article going to print. Hopefully, by the time you read this he will have manned his station in a delivery ward and welcomed his second child into the world, and hopefully by Sunday evening he will have prowled the sidelines of an altogether different delivery ward in Netwatch Cullen Park and welcomed Wicklow’s second title of 2018 into the world of ladies football.
During the Longford game, the Wicklow boss was ready and able to receive the call that his partner Chrissie Short (former Wicklow footballer) was going into labour. Had that happened, a smooth plan would have kicked into action. O’Rourke leaves very little to chance on the field, no doubt it’s exactly the same off of it. No call came in Pearse Park, allowing the Wicklow boss stay for the entire thumping victory enjoyed by his capable footballers. He knows Longford have their issues, but he also knows Wicklow badly wanted to win after losing the 2017 league final to the same opposition.
‘I was aware that Longford had lost a few pivotal players from the league final last year. That said, I know they have a good enough underage section and they’re bringing through a good few underage players, but I suppose it was maybe a step too far for those underage players coming through and we had that bit of, as I always say, that bit of a high coming into that game and the girls also had that thing where they beat us in a league final last year, they wanted to get the return on them and they very much got that,’ he said.
‘At the same time, it was probably one of the games where we were least clinical compared to our other games and that’s obviously something we have been working on in training since. The creating the chances was always there, the workrate by the team was there and the getting up and supporting each other, it was just that at times they made the wrong decisions. We pushed ourselves into shots that we could have went another few phases on,’ he added.
As well as the performances of the starting 15 in Longford, O’Rourke will have been satisfied with the showings from his substitutes such as Claire Walsh.
‘All through this campaign, league and championship, subs coming in, they’re coming in to do a job as well. It’s not for the sake of just giving subs a run no matter how much your leading or behind or whatever. We bring on subs, they’re going in to do a job and they’re going in to replace somebody and bring something fresh to the position and they’ve continued to do that throughout the year and that’s huge for us going forward for the squad.
There were a number of superb performances from members of the Wicklow team in Longford. Niamh McGettigan was outstanding around the middle of the field and half-back Lorna Fusciardi worked herself into the ground with a dynamic showing and earned the praise of her manager.
‘Lorna is working very well. You have to look at where Lorna is coming from, coming back from having baby Harley, and to come back into football so quick, got into the end of club championship last year with Fox/Cab (Foxrock/Cabinteely) and back with her county this year as hungry as ever. And that’s a huge commitment. It’s a big commitment for all these girls, we’d say, coming to training and getting themselves out for training but when you have responsibility for a child as well, and obviously Darren (Hayden) involved with the Senior men’s football, it’s a huge commitment and obviously they’ve got great support from their parents and that as well, but Lorna came back as hungry as ever for success and that makes a difference, at the end of the day she’s an experienced footballer,’ he said.
Laois are a big step up from Longford and the Wicklow boss says they will have the experience of a team just down from Senior football. He also believes that Wicklow’s appearances in national finals in the last two years could be important and Laois’ absence from same could brred some nerves in the O’Moore County camp.
‘You have to look at Laois, Laois are only down from Senior and have been in Senior for a long, long time. I can remember when I was previously involved back in 2009/2010, Wicklow were in a Junior final down in Carlow while the likes of Laois were competing against Dublin in a Senor final and winning it, so no matter what, Laois have come down from Senior and they’ll have that bit of experience which is a big thing for them, the only thing I’ll say that we hold over them is we’ve competed in two national finals in the last two years, lost one, won the one this year, so that’s a big thing for us coming into the final this year, the girls have players in finals already, Laois are heading into their first final so maybe it might create a bit of nerves in the camp.
Could the fact that Laois are just down from Senior and that they are operating out of Division 2 of the league bring a sense of entitlement or arrogance to Wicklow’s opposition in Sunday.
‘I would say it will bring a bit of pressure on them. Very much we are going into this as the underdogs because Laois will look at us as the team that’s up from Junior and we’ll look at them as the team that’s down from Senior, but at the same time we know going into this that we have absolutely nothing to lose, we have 11 from 11 this year and we’re going to keep building and keep working on that and keep the positives in our camp’.
O’Rourke says the camp is full of positivity and that his charges have tasted victory and they want more, much more.
‘It’s going very well. I have to say one thing about our sessions: always great positivity and that’s kind of fed down from management but it also comes from the second those girls come out from the dressing room doors they’re there as a unit, it’s all about Wicklow, they’re representing their clubs and their families, but they always bring that positivity into training. No matter what time you tell them, as you say we’re here early this morning, whether it’s an evening session, once we fix the session the girls don’t have a moan or a whinge, they’re eager to get here. It’s like I said with Lorna (Fusciardi) being hungry, they all have a hunger and they’ve got a taste of victory with the league final and they want more,’ he said.