Cork City boss Frank Kelleher: 'When Shiner is in that position it's only going one place'

Cork City's inaugural WFAI Cup win will put women's football on the map in the county, according to manager Frank Kelleher.

Clare Shine's 33^rd minute strike proved the difference as City emerged champions with a 1-0 win over UCD Waves at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

It is the first Cup win for the club, and Kelleher says that it is a huge moment in the club's history.

“I think it's momentus for the club,” he said after the game.

“The girls have put in great effort this year to get to this level, hours and hours on the training pitch.

“They deserve it, they deserve every minute of it, and hopefully this will put us on the map.”

For much of the game City sat back and absorbed the pressure of the slick Waves side, but were able to forge the better chances throughout the game.

Katie McCarthy was instrumental on the left wing, pulling the strings for Shine, Soairse Noonan, and Danielle Sheehy with some great through balls, and it was her pass that gave City the clinching goal.

Kelleher praised her efforts after the game, saying it was her excellence in one-on-one battles across the midfield that helped his side tick over in attack.

“We had a gameplan,” he said.

“We knew UCD are a really good footballing side.

“We knew that they would dominate possession, but if you look at football generally, you don't have to be dominant in possession to win football matches, even at the highest level.”

“We had a gameplan where we would sit deep in our banks of four, get our cover, and then play on the counter, and that's what we did.”

“It was a fantastic ball from Katie Mac. We played her out wide because we thought she'd get at the full back in 1v1s.

“Her pass for Clare Shine was superb, and when Shiner is in that position it's only going to go one place.

“She had a shot early that she scuffed and wasn't happy with, so she made sure that one found the goal, her 18^th this year.”

However Kelleher did not get too ahead of himself regarding the side's progress, noting that, despite the victory, City are still some way off the top sides in the division.

“I think we need to strengthen the team even more, to make it even more competitive,” he said.

“For me, there's some very, very good teams in this league - Wexford, Peas, Shels, UCD of course - so we need to be getting more players in to make us even stronger.”