Shelbourne midfielder Rachel Graham says not looking back in anger towards a crucial league defeat proved pivotal as they came out on top in their FAI Women’s Cup quarter-final derby to leave the club well placed to fight on two fronts in the upcoming run-in.
Shels lost 2-1 to Athlone Town on 17 August to slip three points adrift of the Midlanders in the battle for the SSE Airtricity Women’s Premier Division title.
But Eoin Wearen’s side bounced back against rivals Shamrock Rovers in the cup on Monday night, despite going down to 10 players following captain Pearl Slattery’s sending off, as Megan Smyth Lynch scored the only goal of the game.
The reward for the Dubliners is a semi-final against Cork City that will be played on the week of 20-22 September.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport’s Shane Dawson following Tuesday’s draw, Graham said Shelbourne did not allow the bitter taste of defeat to Athlone colour their perspective.
“Last week we obviously had a tough defeat against Athlone and it’s easy to start licking your wounds and stuff but that’s not the character of this squad,” she said.
“We’ve been hit before, we’ve been down before and we’ve come back. So there’s no doubt in my mind that every player in there believes we can win the league and the cup.
“So it’s just going about our business now, being professional and all you can do is your best.”
They had to show character against Shamrock Rovers after skipper Slattery was shown a second yellow card and Graham felt that Shels benefited from not going into their shells despite the Hoops having the numerical advantage.
“We knew we could push on and get a winner but you have to box clever in these situations and it’s getting the balance right and that’s where the experience comes in,” she said.
“We’ve a lot of senior players who’ve been in cups before, been in league deciders and that’s what it all comes down to.”
As for next month’s cup semi-final, the four-time Republic of Ireland cap was wary of the threat posed by an improving Cork City side, but savoured the opportunity to play at home after being on the road for the opening rounds.
“All I wanted was a home draw. We’d been away to Galway, away to Rovers, so no more away draws,” she said.
“But no matter who we got, we know it’s going to be tough. We’re not in any way looking past this semi-final, we know it’s going to be so, so tough.
“Cork, they’re going to want to be in the final as much as anybody else, so we don’t look past how tough this game is going to be.”
Cork City’s Orlaith O’Mahony acknowledged that a trip to Tolka Park would be a real test of mettle as they dream of a “huge” occasion in returning to the final stage for the first time since 2020.
“It’s going to be a tough one, it’s a tough place to go but out of the three teams (in the draw), anywhere would have been tough, any team would have been tough,” said the midfielder.
“As players these are the games we want to play in against top opposition so hopefully we’ll be able to go, implement a gameplan and hopefully we come out the right side of the result.
“But it’s going to be tough and it’ll be a challenge.”
Cork have been much improved in 2024, including in the league where they have gone from finishing bottom last season to being up in seventh this term.
“It’s been ups and downs in the season but it’s going in the right direction,” said O’Mahony.
“We can see it in the performances and the results and hopefully in the back end of the season, we’ll be able to pick up a few more points and finish where we think we deserve to finish.”
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