Sorcha Furlong Interview
- Sep 02,2015
SORCHA FURLONG speaks to We Are Dublin ahead of Saturday's crunch encounter with Armagh.
INTERVIEW:
WAD: Sorcha its Armagh up next in the Semi-Final what type of game are you expecting from them.
SF: Well Armagh are a good expansive team, they will play the ball in quickly to the forwards, they like to play around with it and try to create lots of space for their forwards and to mix it up a bit.
They have really good midfielders and really good forwards and I’d be expecting a really tough game from them and hopefully a really good game of football.
WAD: Do you think Dublin's experience of playing in last years All Ireland Semi-Final and Final gives Dublin any advantage at all.
SF: We’ hope so but you have to remember that there was a big turnover in the team and there’s not a huge amount of us there that was playing in last years final that are still playing in the semi-final this year.
Armagh got to the semi-final of course last year as well, they probably had a bad day out against Cork, they are a good side as well and they have got big game experience from league finals and that so hopefully it will stand to us a little but I wouldn’t be putting a huge emphasis on it.
WAD: Sorcha it must be favorable to have some U21 players in the new look team that have no baggage from defeats of previous years.
SF: Yeah I mean that’s definitely something that will help because there is a huge amount of the under 21’s that will have great experience in winning things, they would have won the All Ireland final this year with the 21’s and they won it last year as well, so there’s a really really strong core group coming up in the under 21 age group that don’t have any baggage, they are just used to winning so that has to surely count in our favour in some way.
WAD: There was talk in some quarters that Dublin played a new defensive system against Monaghan in the quarter final, was that correct.
SF: I’m not so sure that it was a new defensive system as opposed to just making sure that everyone just did their jobs properly we just concentrated on cutting off as much space as possible because Monaghan have a really dangerous forward line and have 4 or 5 players that will be getting scores from anywhere.
We had to try and make sure that we were smart about how we defended against them and cut off any space that they had, I think it was more the six defenders being tuned into what they were doing and making sure that they closed off any space that was around them and if there were any shots that were being taken there was at least one person nearby putting pressure on the shot.
WAD: Sorcha being one of the more experienced defenders in the back line are you tasked with making sure the Defence holds its shape and everyone's doing their job.
SF: Well everyone kinda knows what they are doing at this stage it always helps when there is a couple of voices in the back line, like Ciara Trant our goalkeeper is brilliant at talking to everybody and making sure I think more often than not that she is keeping me in the right place than me keeping others in the right place but it definitely helps when people are talking.
If I’m telling someone that I have a certain player covered then it means that they are free to go to the ball, you know it just helps when everyone’s talking and communication in any good defence is key so I think it’s something that’s been proved since our league campaign and we have really been working on it in the past while so I’d like to think that its working well for us.
WAD: With Cork making it back to the All Ireland Final and although Dublin still have to get there,has this given the squad any extra incentive to reach the final again and avenge last years defeat.
SF: I wouldn’t think so I mean if any team is getting to an All Ireland Final they are just gonna be happy to be playing in the final but as you say we have to get there first so we are not looking past Armagh.
We have made mistakes in the past about looking forward so we want to make sure that we just focus on the one game and that’s exactly what we did with Monaghan as well and it worked for us.
It means that we can focus on our key battles and make sure that we have our homework done with Armagh and not be worrying about playing anybody after that game.
WAD: Sorcha which of the young players have really impressed you this year for Dublin.
SF: There has been a huge amount of them that have done great and from playing the in the back line having Ciara Trant in the behind you doing all the talking is great and she is a club mate of mine as well, I think she has been doing great and sure everyone knows about Carla Rowe and the other under 21’s that have been coming forward.
There is Olwen Carey in the corner back as well who has done a really solid job all year and she has been given tough man marking jobs and marked a lot of players out of games.
I tend to pick out the backs here who are doing well, you have Muireann Ni Scannell playing in full back as well and I thought particularly in the Leinster Final that she had a really great game and really kept us in it when West Meath put the pressure on us.
So in the back line yeah.. there are a good few young ones coming through that are doing really really well.
WAD: Finally Sorcha do you think it will be an even bigger achievement for Dublin to reach the All Ireland Final considering the rebuilding of the squad that had to be done this year.
SF: Yeah I mean any year you get to an All Ireland Final is a big deal, we got there in 2010 and won it and then didn’t get there again until last year so you don’t take these opportunities for granted.
They don’t come around to often and yeah while I’m sure a lot of players have gone from last year there was always a few people waiting in the wings last year as well to try and get into the team so it will be a big deal for us to get there but as I say we have to get through Armagh first so we are not really looking past Armagh at the moment.
Dublin v Armagh THIS Saturday Sept 5th at 2pm in Parnell Park