Flood pleased to seal home win against Waves

Last Sunday saw second week of the Bus Éireann Women’s National League with Wexford Youths picking up their first points of the season with a 3-0 win at home against DLR Waves. Having only registered one home win in the league last season, this was a welcome result in Ferrycarrig. Extratime.ie caught up with Youth’s manager John Flood and first asked him how it felt to get off the mark for the season.

“It’s nice to get it to be fair.”

“I suppose going by last year, we probably lost games like that where we were evenly matched with teams like Shamrock Rovers and games like that when we weren’t able to get scores when we needed to get them.

“Yesterday we done the job that we needed to do. We have a lot of work to do and by no means are we under any illusions that we have an awful long way to go. But at the same time it’s nice to get the first home win and not to wait as long as we did last year.”

This year’s instalment of the WNL sees the entry of DLR Waves to the fold, and Flood saw enough to be impressed.

“In fairness to DLR, I think DLR are going to get better and they’ll get stronger. You know they’re playing catch up for a year.

“In fairness though, they have some very experienced players the likes of Sylvia Gee who was with Cork last year. I know Niamh Connolly is gone to them as well. I see on their team sheet Avril Kilkelly – although she didn’t play on Sunday I know she played with Castlebar last year. Sarah Devlin was a massive signing for them. For me anyway she was probably the outstanding goalkeeper of the league last year.

“They have some experience there, and they have an awful lot of youth as well. In Larry Mahoney as well they have a very experienced manager who comes with a very big pedigree.

“They’ll improve as the months and weeks go on. They’re going to take points off teams, they’re going to be strong.

“We’d be foolish to write them off in any shape or form.”

Last year’s inaugural WNL saw Peamount United win the title on the last day of the season, with Raheny United hot on their heels. When asked whether Youths can challenge this year, Flood acknowledges that Peamount and Raheny remain the teams to beat and intends to concentrate on his own team rather than idly speculating.

“Everyone has ambitions to try and finish the top of the pile, but we have to be realistic. I suppose the first thing for us is to try and finish as well as last year, if not better. After that then we’ll see how it goes.”

“To be honest it’s a case of taking each game as it goes. We have to up our own game first and worry about everyone else after.”

Before the DLR Waves game, Wexford Youths were due to play Raheny B in the WNL Cup quarter final, but on the day Raheny were unable to field a team and Wexford Youths were awarded a place in the semi final. Flood agrees that it is always nice to be in a semi final, but looking back he would have rather have had a chance to play the game and get more match practice for his team.

“I would have preferred to have played the game – there’s nothing like getting games. Getting to a semi final via a walkover is not something we like doing.

“At the same time we’ll take it – if we get a victory we’re into the final and it’s fantastic but we’re under no illusions. We’re going to the Morton Stadium to play Raheny. Peamount and Raheny are the top two teams in the country by some way at the moment.

“Having said that in a one off game anything can happen. You have to go in confident and set up your game plan and you hope that things work out. If you didn’t think you had a chance, you shouldn’t go there.”

Next up for Flood’s team is a trip south to play Cork Women’s FC. Last season saw Cork and Wexford finish level on twenty points, with Cork finishing ahead on goal difference. This season, Flood expects encounters between the two teams to be just as close with Sunday’s tie hard to call.

“It’s hard to say to be honest. Cork are a very good side. They have some very good talent down there. We have a very good rivalry with Cork. It’s closely contested, it could go any way.

“Denise O’Sullivan is probably one of the outstanding players that is playing in the league at the moment. Likewise we have Cherelle Khassell who is one of the very good players in the league as well. As I said, it could go any way.

“I think Cork are very very good, and I think [they] are going to get better. We’ll be at our best to try and get results against Cork – whether it is in Wexford or Cork. I don’t there will be much in any of the games. Cork are very good and they’re only going to improve.”

Last Sunday’s win will have brought the smile to one of Wexford Youth’s players in particular. Last Friday, midfielder and captain Kylie Murphy underwent surgery on a serious injury she suffered while warming up for last March’s victory against Peamount. While Murphy has been unable to play since that day, Flood is adamant that she has remained an important part of the Wexford club and owes a lot of the unity and togetherness amongst the clubs younger players to Murphy’s involvement.

It goes without saying that fans of the WNL up and down the country will be wishing Kylie a speedy and complete recovery and will look forward to her once again starring in Wexford’s midfield.