Shorter off-season has Cork City primed for fast start to WNL campaign

Relatively recent history has conditioned Danny Murphy into attaching caveats to assessing President’s Cup final losers.

Cork City's trip to Tolka Park 12 months ago was Murphy’s first game of his first full season but the double-holders Shelbourne were nursing a defeat to Athlone in the curtain-raiser.

Champions Peamount are in the same boat when they visit Turner’s Cross for Saturday afternoon’s season-opener.

“We watched Shels last year and thought they didn’t look great but it was a completely different story when we played them,” he recalls without specifying the damage.

That result? A 6-0 hammering.

It was a portent for things to come as the Rebel Army propped up the table, winning just once over their 20 games.

Averaging less than a goal per game compounded their defensive frailties and the former City league winner wasn’t shying from the fact changes for 2024 were essential.

That wasn’t just personnel – releasing captain Danielle Burke being a contentious call – but altering a culture soured by losing. Scrapping at the bottom has been their perennial challenge.

The softness had to stop and the physical side of that was addressed by shortening the off-season.

“We only had two weeks off before going into the gym,” noted Eva Mangan, the new captain at just 19.

To compete against the likes of Peamount and Shelbourne, battle-hardened in mind and body, basic endurance levels are a minimum.

City lag behind others when it comes to subsistence and expenses for players but there’s been no lack of appetite for the demands placed on them by management.

“We can ask players to do extra things but it comes down to their willingness and they’ve been brilliant,” said Murphy, who has tried to emphasise the internal rather than be