A 4-1 win at Markets Field meant back-to-back wins on the road in the space of a week. Were you happy with that?
We were. It’s nice to be able to utilise the full squad that we have and rotate the players. We completely dominated both games, the scorelines could have been an awful lot more so we really couldn’t have asked more of the players. It was two good, fresh performances in a short period of time.
Were Áine’s goals in Limerick the pick of the bunch, a quick passing move for her first and how she buried it in the net for her second?
Yes, it was a good build-up to it with good, quality passing involving Jess Hennessy. It’s a little part of Jess Hennessy’s game that we’ve highlighted as areas of improvement so it’s nice to see the players take on board the little areas that they can grow and actually produce it on the day when it matters.
Athlone are one of the in-form teams with five league wins in a row, along with reaching the FAI Cup final. They’re in fifth place with a chance of fourth. Will Rovers have to be at our best to seal second spot on Saturday?
Absolutely. I think it’s seven straight wins for Athlone in all competitions so they’re a really good side with great attacking strength. With Dana down the middle, Chloe Singleton joining in from the no.10 position and Maddy Gibson on one side so they’ve attacking strength all over. It just goes to show how good a job Ciarán and Ken have done since they came in.
It looks like Áine could be in a straight shootout with Athlone’s Dana Scheriff for the honour of the league’s top goalscorer this season. She’s also only two goals away from a career league 200 so she has plenty of motivation there…
It’s not like Áine needs any other kind of motivation. I don’t think she has ever looked at those little milestones or targets, she’s just the ultimate professional. She takes one game at a time and she knows what’s in front of her and that’s this Saturday. She’ll try her best, like she does every game to get onto the scoresheet for us.
The Player of the Year awards take place afterwards so hopefully there’s a good crowd for the last game of the season in Tallaght. Áine won the club’s October Player of the Month award but she has a bit of competition there for POTY with a number of contenders?
Again, it shows with the squad that we have that there’s been good competition for places. There’s been plenty of people who have stepped up this year. The growth of the whole team from when we came together in January to play with the style of play that they are now, and how comfortable they are on the ball. Their intelligence and work rate. Their growth has been phenomenal. Although we don’t have any trophies or silverware to show for it at this moment in time, I’m extremely proud of their growth. There’s been some great progress there and a lot of players have come on leaps and bounds, so it’s no surprise that there’s a lot of competition there for the Player of the Year award. As a coach, that’s the way you’d want to be at the end of the year. It just means that an awful lot of the players have done their work.
Any injuries going to Saturday?
No, we have a full squad.