DLR Waves goalscorer Katie Malone believes their superior fitness was the key to Saturday’s shock win over league champions Shelbourne.
The striker scored the only goal of the game just before half time as she lifted the ball spectacularly over Shels keeper Amanda Budden.
It proved the only goal of the game and, though Waves had to withstand a late period of pressure, they limited the visitors to very little.
Key to that was the work the team put in off the ball, and Malone had probably the most thankless of tasks as she led the press on Shels’ ball-playing defence.
With Shels dominating possession, that translated to what Malone describes as a lot of ‘running back and forth,’ but so confident is she in the team’s fitness that the result was never in doubt.
“They’re a great footballing side but we know we have the fitness over them,” the Rathmines native told Dublin Live.
“It was game management, keeping the heads, keep pressing them and we knew we’d probably get a result.
“It can be very difficult at times because you feel like you’re just running back and forth. With Mia [Dodd] in the ten, she helps with the pressing and it’s huge.
“They’re a great footballing side so you have to stop them playing football, so press is a massive thing for us.
“The last two years we’ve been pushing them, but they’ve just kept getting last-minute winners. It’s great we kept the heads today, pushed and and managed to get that win eventually.”
Malone’s goal, a tidy finish as Budden was caught in two minds coming for a ball over the top, was less a moment of improvisation as it was the result of keen observation.
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She scored a similar lob on Budden while the keeper was at Galway two seasons ago and made up her mind to try it again if the chance arose.
“I looked back a few times and noticed so kept coming off her line so when I got the ball I thought I might as well just chip her.
“They play a very deep line and Amanda comes off her line a good bit, so I just took my chance. The only chance I got really.”
Inflicting the first defeat of the season - and ending a 13-game winning streak in the league - on Noel King’s side will have made a few sit up and notice.
There’s been little change in the games between the sides in recent times, however, with just a goal the difference in their last five meetings, two of which Shels have won in the last minute.
Waves head honcho Graham Kelly said that his team were well-deserving of the win, and added that the result has been coming for some time.
“I said it to the girls before the game: ‘we’re so close, we just need to go and beat one of these teams.’
“You’ve just beaten the league champions, they hadn’t conceded a goal, they’d won 13 games on the bounce, and I think we were deserved winners.”
Kelly, who lost left-back Nicole Keogh to a rolled ankle just before half time, will make changes with his team facing three games in eight days.
Waves have the deepest squad in the league for a reason, however, and will be able to manage the fixtures against Athlone Town on Tuesday night and Cork City on Saturday.
“That’s exactly why we have the squad. We’ll have to make a couple of changes Tuesday night to keep everything fresh and see how we get on. We know how good a team Athlone are.”
