Faye Loughran says Glens ready to make All-Island statement against Shelbourne

FAYE Loughran wants Glentoran to make a statement of intent when
they take on Shelbourne Women in the All-Island Cup at the Blanchflower Stadium
on Saturday evening (kick-off 5.00pm).

The Glens need a win over the Group D leaders to make sure of progression into
the last eight of the competition having lost to Waterford last time out.

Loughran knows it won’t be easy against the Dublin outfit, who have won
both their group games to date, but the defender says Kim Turner’s side are
determined to get the result they need to progress into the latter stages of
the competition.

“At the start of the season we set our targets and one of them was to
be involved in the latter stages of all the competitions we’re involved in this
season,” said Loughran.

“We have had a decent start in the Boyle Sports Women’s Cup and the
Sports Direct Women’s Premiership winning all our games so far.

“We obviously beat Bohemians in our opening game in the All-Island Cup
before losing to Waterford.

“That was a bit frustrating as not only was it the only game, we’ve lost
so far it also means we now have work to do to make it to the quarter-finals.

“But our mentality would always be to go and win every game we play in any
way, so it hasn’t changed anything for us that way, we just know now that there
is a bit more at stake in terms of the result.

“It will be a tough game, there’s no doubt about it. Shelbourne have won
both games so far and obviously got to the semi-finals last year, so they have
a lot of pedigree.

“We will go into the game full of confidence though as we have won both
games since the defeat to Waterford, not only did we score a few goals, but we
played well too.

“We just have to make sure come Saturday we go out and hit those levels
again and make sure we come away with a positive result.”

The teenage centre-back is playing in the All-Island Cup for the second year
running after making her debut in the tournament with Lisburn Rangers last
season.

Loughran says she enjoys the challenge of coming up against different players
from another league.

“It was a great experience playing in the competition last year
especially as a young player,” said the Northern Ireland U17 and U19
international.

“We did well winning two of our group games and we just missed out on a
place in the quarter-finals to Shamrock Rovers on goal difference.

“It has definitely helped me going into this season and especially this
competition as you know you’re going to be tested by a lot of quality players
who you don’t come up against on a regular basis.

“We have a lot of quality in the Sports Direct Women’s Premiership, but
you play against each other regularly so you start to know their game.

“It’s obviously different when you play League of Ireland teams as you
maybe don’t know all the players.

“So, you have to do your homework and make sure you are well prepared
going into every game.

“At Glentoran the coaching staff have us well drilled and preparation is
key. They make sure we have all we need ahead of every game and we work so hard
on different scenarios.

“It’s up to us as players to take that out onto the pitch and implement it
so that we can get the result we need.

“That will be key for us on Saturday, we have to give it everything we
have.”