Collie O’Neill hails ‘brilliant’ Hoops duo ahead of Women’s World Cup

Macdara Ferris reports from the Blanchflower Stadium in Belfast

Vera Pauw named her World Cup squad last week, with nine of the 23 players having come through the League of Ireland including two players currently in the league - Shamrock Rovers’ Áine O’Connor and Abbie Larkin.

The Hoops duo are at different stages of their careers.

O’Gorman has played a 117 times for Ireland with a career that began before there was a Women’s National League, includes a spell with Doncaster Rovers Belles and being part of a dominant Peamount United side in more recent years.

The 34-year-old made the move over the winter to become captain at Shamrock Rovers as the Hoops returned to top level of the women’s game in Ireland since dropping out of the league in 2014.

Abbie Larkin was one of the standout players with Shelbourne’s double winning side in 2022 and was one of six players signed by Hoops Head Coach Collie O’Neill from the Reds for this season.

“It is absolutely brilliant,” said O’Neill about the inclusion of the duo in the World Cup squad when he spoke with extratime.com in Belfast after his side’s 3-2 win over Glentoran in the Avenir Sports All-Island Cup on Sunday.

“I think it helps that they are part of a professional environment when Vera (Pauw) is looking for professional players to be a part of that team. Rovers are looking to do it the right way.

“A lot of people will be saying about Áine that she is there because she has 100+ caps and doing it year after year but for us she is one of the best players around at the moment and is there on current form. She fully deserves to be in the squad.

“Abbie will light up Tallaght week after week. She is an absolute breath of fresh air and the kind of person you are happy to pay to go and watch play.”

All-Island Cup

Those in attendance at the Harland & Woolf Welders’ Stadium on Sunday got their monies worth with five goals shared between Glentoran and Shamrock Rovers.

It was one of the players who came up to the senior team from last year’s Rovers’ under-19 side that won player of the match.

With two goals and an assist for Melissa O’Kane’s goal, 19-year-old Shannon Coady helped the Hoops to their second win in the All-Island Cup.

However, that wasn’t enough to see the Hoops make the semi-finals with last week’s 5-3 loss to Wexford Youths proving their undoing.

“We wanted a reaction from last week," said O'Neill. "That was important to us. I didn't care what the result was today but I wanted to see attitude and application and you trying to take on board what we were doing during the week and put it into use and they did that.”

O’Neill has set up his team 4-2-3-1 all season but went 4-1-4-1 against a Glentoran side packed with internationals and who are top of their league with nine wins and a draw from their opening ten games and who needed to win to make it out of the group.

“They are a really good squad. We used it as an excercise changing the shape today to have a look at something different that we had worked on during the week.

“It is a great test for our team. This is the level we want to be at every week and there is a lot of growth for us. We are building a framework and we aren't fully there yet. We are going in the right direction.”

Having not made the semi-final, Rovers will continue to train and play over the next fortnight before taking a break.

“We will play friendlies over the next two weekends and we aren't going to stop till the 16th (July). They will get two full weeks off and then we will be back and do a mini pre-season before we go into our next competitive game which is in the FAI Cup (at the end of August at home to Killester Donnycarney).

“It is a mental break and a physical one for the players. They have done a lot of hardwork and do deserve that break. For us it is only a pause and we want to come back for a better second half of the season.”

Rovers sit third in the table level on points with Shelbourne and six points behind Peamount United with seven league games remaining when the competition resumes in September.

All-Island Cup Report: Glentoran 2- 3 Shamrock Rovers https://t.co/I5Za1xmhcopic.twitter.com/7iRDgJ8ojJ

— Extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) July 2, 2023