If we win every remaining league match, we go to the league final
CORK ladies footballers are on the road again this weekend as they attempt to boost their promotion challenge in Lidl National Football League Division 2.
After trips to Galway and Tipperary in recent weeks, this is Cork’s third away game in a row as they point the bus north to Castleblayney for a Sunday afternoon showdown against Monaghan (2pm).
With both teams on six points, this clash could have a big impact on the promotion picture.
Cork have wins from three games, beating Westmeath (3-12 to 0-5) and Tipperary (3-12 to 0-9) while they lost to Galway in between (2-8 to 0-12). Monaghan picked up two wins from their first two games but a late Donegal goal in round three meant they suffered their first defeat (1-7 to 0-8).
Whoever wins Sunday’s game will be in second spot heading into round five, behind leaders Galway.
‘We’re reasonably happy with our start to the league,’ new Cork boss Joe Carroll said.
‘A very good first half against Westmeath, second half wasn’t as good. We did a lot of very good things against Galway who were in the All-Ireland final last year so we weren’t overly disappointed with it. Our second half performance against Tipperary was quite good given that we weren’t that great in the first half. It’s early stages yet, a bit of a mixed bag,’
This upcoming game against Monaghan could go a long way to deciding who moves up to Division 1 for 2026: win and you are one step closer to promotion, but lose and you’re on the back foot with only three rounds left.
‘I suppose you could look at it that way but it is still going to be a very tight league. Donegal beat Monaghan so they might come back into the reckoning as well. You can’t rule any of the teams out at this stage. We’ll just look after ourselves and hopefully we get the win next Sunday,’ the Cork boss said.
The Rebels go into Sunday’s clash with no injuries to report, however it remains to be seen whether dual stars Libby Coppinger, Aoife Healy or Hannah Looney will play a part given the Cork camogie team are in action on Saturday against Waterford in Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
‘We should have everybody back. Libby Coppinger is back training again. We have to assess the three players playing camogie on Saturday, whether we take them and play them or not. We’ll see how that game goes. We won’t know until Saturday evening,’ Carroll explained.
So far, Cork’s attack has racked up 6-36 in three games, the most by anybody in Division 2. Katie Quirke (0-17, 13f), Laura O’Mahony (1-5), Looney (1-3), Coppinger (2-0), Emma Cleary (1-2) and Aimee Corcoran (0-3) have all chipped in. The defence has done relatively well too as Siobhan Callanan, captain Sarah Leahy and Róisín Ní Chorcora have started all games so far while the return of Erika O’Shea has been a boost.
Cork manager Joe Carroll.
Cork are coming up against a Monaghan defence, however, that has conceded just 2-19; it’s the second best defence in the division.
Given that there has been a lot of change, Carroll is reasonably happy with their showings so far but still stresses that there is room for improvement.
‘We’re starting to gel them together a bit and it’s going to take a bit of time. That’s why the league is there,’ he explained.
‘We’re experimenting a bit and we’ve played a few practice games along the way. We’ve looked at a lot of players and things like that. Our panel and team isn’t fully settled so it is going to take a bit of time.’
This upcoming trip is the last for the Rebels in their three away games in a row. With two home matches against Roscommon and Clare after this, Cork would be in an ideal situation with nine points, if they win this weekend.
‘It’s tough. Monaghan is the furthest one, Galway is reasonably far as well, Tipperary is only up the road as such. That’s the way it goes. We can’t do anything about it,’ Carroll said.
‘We have one more away trip to Donegal in our last game as well, which is another overnight stay. There is a lot of expense involved in that as well.
‘We’ll be targeting a win in every one of our matches going forward because if we win every remaining league match, we go to the league final. That is the target we’ll be trying to set ourselves, to win all the remaining league games but we’ll be taking them one at a time.’
