With no games scheduled in the Women’s National League this weekend due to international fixtures, ConallCollier spoke to Sligo Rovers manager Steve Feeney about the performance against Athlone Town last Saturday and the remaining six games in the club’s debut season, starting with the visit of Galway on Saturday 10th September.

The Bit O’Red go into the mini-break in eighth position, seven points clear of Cork City and eight adrift of seventh-placed Bohemian FC.

The target for the remaining games is to collect as many points as possible and close the gap on Bohemian FC.

Feeney was positive about many aspects of last Saturday’s performance, although he also suggested that there are key areas in which the team can find some improvement.

“I know I’ve said this a few times, but it’s the truth, the girls always keep going, always keep trying to play football and it was the same against Athlone Town,” he commented.

“Even when we were 3-1 down, for the start of the second-half, they kept focused and deservedly got back into the game with a superb goal from Paula (McGrory) with about 12 or 13 minutes remaining.

“Then we had a couple of chances for an equaliser and we just couldn’t get level.

“That’s probably the difference in a lot of the games this season where we were edged out by a goal, when you get a chance at this level, you have to be able to take it.

“It was disappointing that we didn’t get something out of the game in Athlone, but they’re in the top three and we are in our first season.

“They were able to bring a player of the calibre of Emily Corbet off the bench in that second-half and she got that fourth goal when we were pushing forward,” he added.

Regarding the overall performance against Athlone, and other displays this season, Feeney maintained that a bit more consistency over 90 minutes is one area that he is focused on.

“Our second-half display against Athlone was very pleasing, I suppose it all comes down to more consistency,” he stated.

“We struggled to deal with the threat Athlone posed in the first-half, especially after we took the lead.

“It was all a bit frantic and we just needed a bit more composure, but the players are learning all the time.

“I can identify areas where we have to improve, we have conceded too many easy goals this season and if we can address that, then we will start picking up points again.

“We had a good training game on Tuesday and everyone will come back next week and prepare for the visit of Galway.

“That will be another tough one for us, but we can use it as a gauge to measure our levels of improvement.

“We have six games left, starting with the visit of Galway, and we have to try to start picking up some points.

“We know how good we can be, it’s a matter of bringing that form into our remaining games,” he concluded.