Mathews delighted with cup win
Credit: Extratime Team (ETPhotos)
Alan Mathews says he is “delighted” with his players winning the
Leinster Senior Cup- just three days after losing 4-0 at home to
Limerick in the league.
“We’re delighted with the response we got from Friday,” said the Shels manager, “the players themselves responded- they came in and worked over the weekend. I thought our performance today was very very good.”
Mathews went on to laud his players’ efforts in the 4-0 final win over Bray: “We passed and moved the ball around well. We scored some very good goals. That’s what I was looking for- you want a reaction because there’s a lot of football still to be played. We needed to bounce back and we did- we need to take that in to the game on Friday.”
Asked if the cup win could be the catalyst for revitalising Shels’ season, Mathews stated he simply wants more of the same: “if the players maintain that level of application, concentration and a real hunger to try and win games we’ll be OK between now and the end of the season. We’ll win a lot more matches than we’ll lose. I was delighted with the attitude of all the players today.”
The final saw Shels adopt a far more attacking 4-3-3 tactic as they sought to take the game to their Bray opponents. Mathews was cautious about saying the 4-3-3 might become a more regular tactic: “We juggled it around a little bit. It worked today but it mightn’t work next week. You look at formations: you can play 4-3-3, you can play 4-2-3-1, it’s all about players.
The real difference today was that there was a real hunger to score goals and also to not give away goals. The formation is just the framework that the players work with to give us some shape and organisation. The most pleasing aspect of today’s performance was the response of the players to disappointment on Friday night.”
“We’re delighted with the response we got from Friday,” said the Shels manager, “the players themselves responded- they came in and worked over the weekend. I thought our performance today was very very good.”
Mathews went on to laud his players’ efforts in the 4-0 final win over Bray: “We passed and moved the ball around well. We scored some very good goals. That’s what I was looking for- you want a reaction because there’s a lot of football still to be played. We needed to bounce back and we did- we need to take that in to the game on Friday.”
Asked if the cup win could be the catalyst for revitalising Shels’ season, Mathews stated he simply wants more of the same: “if the players maintain that level of application, concentration and a real hunger to try and win games we’ll be OK between now and the end of the season. We’ll win a lot more matches than we’ll lose. I was delighted with the attitude of all the players today.”
The final saw Shels adopt a far more attacking 4-3-3 tactic as they sought to take the game to their Bray opponents. Mathews was cautious about saying the 4-3-3 might become a more regular tactic: “We juggled it around a little bit. It worked today but it mightn’t work next week. You look at formations: you can play 4-3-3, you can play 4-2-3-1, it’s all about players.
The real difference today was that there was a real hunger to score goals and also to not give away goals. The formation is just the framework that the players work with to give us some shape and organisation. The most pleasing aspect of today’s performance was the response of the players to disappointment on Friday night.”
About Niall Farrell
Niall Farrell is our correspondent at Tolka Park, covering the goings-on at Shelbourne. You can visit Niall's website for further information and contact details- niallf.net. View Full Profile