Sean Russell’s Reds set sights on FAI Cup semi-final test in Cork | OneFootball

ShelsTV caught up with Shelbourne FC women’s manager Sean Russell as his side prepare for a massive Club Orange Women’s FAI Cup Semi-Final this Saturday in Turner’s Cross.

With the Reds coming into this weekend on the back of 5 consecutive wins, Russell spoke about the atmosphere in the camp: “The mood is very good. Obviously we’ve had a lot of games in a short space of time recently, but we have carried momentum with us and the atmosphere is positive.” One of those recent wins came against this Saturday’s opponents Cork City and the Reds’ boss spoke about the learnings they can take from their last encounter. “In fairness to Derek (Coughlan) since he’s gone in at Cork it’s clear that they have an identity now. They are very structured and have a gameplan that they stuck to really well when we last played them in Tolka. I thought we played quite well that day, but it took us a long time to break them down and we expect a similar test this weekend. They’re at home and we’re going to have to bring a high level of performance to the game.”

Despite having one piece of silverware in the trophy cabinet already in 2026, Sean Russell spoke about the sense of occasion around this big game and that it would still be very natural for players to have some nerves ahead of another televised game: “This is something that we addressed prior to the All-Island Cup Final and other big games – certain games do come with more weight to them, and this is certainly one of those. It would be naïve to think that people don’t have nerves, but I think what the best do is that they know how to channel those nerves, and we’ve been working with the group to try and channel those feelings into a positive energy that we can use in our favour. If you can strip away some of the pressure of the result and focus purely on the performance, that’s something that we’ve been good at so far.”

Russell then gave ShelsTV an injury update: “There are no new injuries since the last game,which is great, but Becky (Watkins) is still in her boot, but her rehab should progress quite quickly once she gets out of that, which should happen in the next week. Jess (Gargan) has taken a good step forward and has the boots back on and is running on the grass again so that’s brilliant. We’re hoping to have her back in the next couple of weeks. With Keeva’s (Keenan) injury it’s one that we have to take week by week and it’s about how she reacts to certain tests; but we remain hopeful that we’ll be seeing her before too long.”

All Shelbourne fans were delighted to see striker Kate Mooney return to action against Bohemians last Saturday, 385 days after suffering a bad leg injury. Despite featuring from the bench in that game, Mooney was an unused substitute on Tuesday against Wexford. The Shels’ boss spoke about how he and his staff need to manage her return: “I think Kate was good for 15 minutes max against Bohs and obviously it was her first game back, so we need to be careful and pick the right moments for her and that’s our responsibility as a staff. Wexford probably wasn’t the moment for her, but she is certainly available this week and we all know what she can offer us. We would love to try and get her on the pitch, to build those minutes and get her back to full form as quickly as we can.”

Before signing off Sean Russell wanted to say a word for the hardy supporters that will be travelling down to Cork for the game on Saturday and for the many Shels fans who will be watching on their televisions at home: “I think first and foremost it has been a standout to meand so impressive since I’ve come into the club, that the fanbase and home support have been magnificent. They have made away games feel like home games at times, and I know for a fact that those who travel on Saturday will help to push the team on. The group are always talking amongst themselves about the positive impact our fans have on us in games. For those who are travelling down we really do appreciate the support and for those who will be watching at home we will make sure that we leave everything we have out on that pitch and do our very best to lead the club to another cup final. We know how much the fanbase and the club love cup final day and we will do absolutely everything we can to give them that day.”

Kick-off on Saturday is at 4pm and the game is live on TG4.