“It was fight against fight” | Foley, White & Van Dolder speak post Sligo Rovers draw

Van Dolder stressed that the team want to win every game they play, but that there were “a lot of positives to take” from Saturday’s tough draw.

Treaty United continued their unbeaten start to the League of Ireland Women’s Premier League season on Saturday, as they battled to a 0-0 draw with Sligo Rovers in the Markets Field.

The Shannonsiders sit fifth in the league table, picking up five points from a possible nine. Dominic Foley’s side beat DLR Waves at home in their opening game of the season, before picking up a 2-2 draw away to Shamrock Rovers.

Speaking after Saturday’s Sligo draw, Foley admitted the game “wasn’t the best spectacle for the supporters,” but praised the “commitment” and “resilience” of his side.

“It wasn’t the best spectacle for the supporters, the wind and the dry pitch at the start, the rain and wind as well in the second half. It was difficult playing conditions, so I think it was fight against fight and not much quality on the field. Overall, a draw is a fair result.”

“I would hope that it helps them. It’s a positive sign that the way we’ve started this season that people are listening now and hearing about us, people are interested to come along and have a look. It’s just a pity that they didn’t get to see a better game of football today, but look we said at half time things just weren’t going for us, it was just one of those days I felt. I made a request that if we’re not going to score the very least we would get out of it is a 0-0, show fight, commitment, resilience, and I think they showed that in the second half, we were under pressure for a good bit of it.”

Dominic Foley

Treaty United captain Talia White also commented on the tough conditions, saying her team “battled through.”

The defender praised the efforts of the back four she has been a part of, as well as hard work the side’s midfield has been putting in. The Limerick side have scored four goals this term, and the captain wants her team to build on the great start.

“The game was pretty tough conditions wise, one time it was sunny, then it was raining, then the pitch was dry, so I feel like we battled through. It was pretty back and forth. We’re happy with a draw based on the conditions”

“We’re going to keep trying to build on our past performances, we’ve had different goal scorers, our back four has been brilliant, our midfield has been working hard in there so I think if we just keep building on that we’re excited to keep pushing forward.”

Talia White

Among the goals has been midfielder Erin Van Dolder, the Canadian impressing since moving Shannonside this season.

Van Dolder stressed that the team want to win every game they play, but that there were “a lot of positives to take” from Saturday’s tough draw.

The midfielder also highlighted the number of new players in the side this season, and how it will take time for things to click.

“I think we put in a lot of work, I don’t think it was the result that we were looking for, definitely every game we go into we’re trying to win, but we also showed a lot of resilience today and so we can be proud of that continuing to work when things weren’t going our way, when we weren’t able to find our rhythm so a lot of positives to take from it and a lot of things to work on going in to next week.”

“I think it’s started really well, there’s a lot of new players here and the old players as well it’s just such a new team that we’re starting to learn from each other and understand our chemistry together. I think once that starts to grow, what we have as a foundation from the individual players, the amount of work we’ll put in, the resilience, the power. As we get to know each other and we can create better I think we’re looking at a great season coming up.”

Erin Van Dolder

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Foley’s team are back in All-Island Cup action this weekend, as they travel to Belfast to take on Crusaders Strikers.

Treaty played out a 1-1 draw at home to Shamrock Rovers in the opening round of the competition, with Van Dolder netting for the hosts.