BY SEÁN HOLLAND
CORK ladies football boss Shane Roynane knows the importance of their TG4 All-Ireland Ladies Senior Football Championship opener against Laois on Sunday.
With a Group 3 clash at home to Galway the following weekend, a win against Laois is key to Cork’s chances of progressing to the knockout stages, as two will emerge from this three-team group.
Laois have struggled this season and finished bottom of Division 2 so the expectation is Cork will win, but Ronayne insists they won’t take the Leinster side’s challenge lightly.
‘Laois have had a difficult year. They changed their manager after the league, but the new manager, Steven Duff, is very good; he was over DCU's O'Connor Cup-winning team,’ Ronayne said.
‘They had a disappointing day out against Dublin, but most teams at this stage are having disappointing days out against Dublin. They were competitive against Meath, and they were very competitive against Kildare. Steven will set them up well, and he'll be very competitive against us. They're probably not looking at this year so much, but we know we have to be on our guard.
‘We played them in a challenge game before the Munster championship and we won, but Laois asked a lot of questions of us. We know we have to be ready for Sunday, but we feel if we are ready then we'll get the job done and hopefully go into the Galway game knowing that if we beat them, we can top the group.’
Roynane also provided an injury update on his squad.
‘As we know, Libby (Coppinger) is out for a number of weeks (hamstring injury). Also, Sarah Leahy went off in the Munster final and she's out for the next few weeks so won't make either game,’ Ronyane said. ‘Lydia McDonagh got injured in training, she’s a doubt. Daire Kiniry is also a doubt, she got injured in training too. Hopefully, Eimear Kiely might be available after her long-term injury. We’re also hoping to have Shauna Cronin, who has been injured a good bit this year, back in the squad as well.’
