Last Saturday, in front of the TV cameras, United somehow fell short against a spirited Wexford team as they were held to 1-1 draw. While a creditable point was earned, it means there is even less room for manoeuvre for United as they try to hang in at the top.
They were on the road again last night in Cork and will travel to DLR Waves on Saturday afternoon where another win will be vital for their chances of a grandstand finish.
It has been a hectic run for United, but Phil Trill wasn’t allowing for results bias to colour his view of his team’s performance in the big game in the south-east. He said: “Overall, I thought it was an excellent performance. I thought we were done no favours by the scheduling, and we saw that in the first 15 minutes.”
“Once they scored, I think we kicked ourselves into gear. I thought they responded really well to conceding. It looked like there was only going to be one team that was going to win the game.”
“[Jayne] Merren is a great young ‘keeper and it’s always a reflection of how the game goes when the opposition’s ‘keeper gets Player of the Match. The big thing for me was that, after the penalty debacle, was how positive we were and how we just got on with it. I was proud of how we kept going at them.”
The penalty incident referenced was the partial save from Jenna Slattery’s spot kick that appeared to cross the line without a goal being awarded. While it was clear from the replays that the ball had at least partially crossed the line, it was not conclusive that the whole ball had. Trill was measured in his assessment.
Regarding the penalty, Trill said: “I was more concerned with the encroachment. There were three Wexford players in the box when the penalty was taken. I think the fact that we are still discussing whether the ball went over the line or not, it’s one of those things. You’d ask 50 people. 25 might say it was and 25 might say it wasn’t.”
One area that Trill finds it harder to hide his disappointment is the fixture congestion that has befallen his team as they seek to stay in the hunt for league honours. “Our reward for winning the All-Island Cup, with no prize money in the competition, is to go to Cork on a Wednesday night because the league department schedule league fixtures the same week as the cup.”
“There are phenomenal people in there [the league department] but they have made a big mistake with this one.”
Looking forward to Saturday, Trill is expecting nothing easy as nothing has come easy this season.
“There are no gimmes. There hasn’t been all year. We have really been on form and played well this year. There are five games left and there are three teams that can win it. It’s not an ego thing but some of the football our club has played this year has been second to none. That too can be said for Shelbourne.”
“The Sligo game was no gimme. The DLR game will be no gimme. We gave them a fair hiding in front of nearly 3,000 people, they won’t have forgotten that. Every game is tough. Isn’t it great to be at the end of the season where every game is tough because nobody wants you to win. We are still punching.”
With big games against Shelbourne and Athlone to come at home, this team will have a say one way or another.
