Eyes Back on the League | OneFootball

Still on a high following the fantastic 3-1 win in the Club Orange Women’s FAI Cup Final on Sunday, Shelbourne Head Coach Sean Russell spoke to ShelsTV ahead of his side’s return to league action this Saturday in Waterford. He started by speaking on the energy in training following the victory in Tallaght: “The energy has been great, the mood is good and training has been really sharp. The team were happy to be back out on the pitch. We know now that we have to park last Sunday and focus on this very important game that’s in front of us.”

“Banana skins” are a common cliché in football and have been known to occur following marquee victories. The Shels boss discussed the importance of not slipping up and taking Saturday’s challenge very seriously: “Gary Hunt is an excellent coach and always has his teams very well set up. You always know that this Waterford team will be very committed and very well-structured. There are no guarantees going down to the RSC, we know that, and they’ve gotten some really big results this season already. We know that Waterford are more than capable of causing an upset and it’s important that we bring the best version of ourselves and build on last week.”

After playing 96 minutes of intense football in the cup final only six days prior to this assignment, Russell gave a squad update ahead of the game: “Halle (Harcourt) is away with Ireland and it’s great to see her scoring and doing well there. Apart from that Nia (Hannon) is a slight doubt for us as she’s dealing with a knock. But we saw Keeva (Keenan) come on late in the final and we have Maggie (Pierce) now back with us too, so overall we’re looking very healthy and have some really good options.”

With only three league games remaining in the season, and the prize of European football still there for the taking, Russell spoke about the desire within the squad to top off a great season with one last prize: “There’s always a hunger in this group for more success. With the performance that we showed last week it’s important that we don’t take a backward step. We’ve still got three big games to go that has a fantastic prize at the end of it and there is absolutely a desire to go and grab it. We know that we now must shift our focus to Waterford and apply ourselves with the same vigour that we did on Sunday so that we can take maximum points.”

Kick-off at the RSC is at 3pm and the game is live on LOITV.