Jenna McKearney has challenged Glentoran Women to build on their recent European exploits when they return to domestic action away to Derry City Women on Friday night.
The Glens spent last week in Wrexham competing in the Women’s Champions League qualifying stages, where they produced an encouraging display in their semi-final defeat to FC Riga before securing third place with a 4-2 victory over FC Pyunik.
After a difficult start to July, when they lost the Women’s League Cup final to Cliftonville, McKearney believes things are beginning to turn for Kim Turner’s side as they look to end the month by maintaining the pressure at the top of the Women’s Premiership table.
“Every team goes through tough periods at some stage of the season, but it’s important that we stick together. After the cup final, we were able to sit down and look at what had happened and where we could improve,” said McKearney.
“I think you can see that since then we have started to look a bit more like ourselves and the performances are getting closer to where we want them to be.
“It was really good to get away to Wrexham and spend time together as a group in a full-time environment. We felt unlucky against Riga because we gave a good account of ourselves, but they scored at crucial times.
“Against Pyunik, everything came together and we showed what we are all about. Yes, it was disappointing not to progress further, but now it’s about taking that form into our domestic campaign, starting on Friday night.”
Derry City currently sit sixth in the Women’s Premiership and scored seven goals in their last outing as they eased past Larne, with McKearney wary of the threat they pose.
“We certainly won’t be paying any attention to form or league position going into these games,” said McKearney.
“Our focus will be solely on winning the game, no matter who we are coming up against. Derry, like every team in this league, have players who can hurt you if you give them the opportunity.
“We have to take care of what we can control, and that will come down to our work rate and performance levels.
“We are coming off a positive result against Pyunik and now the most important thing for us is to build on it.
“We are determined to close the gap on the teams above us, and the only way we will do that is by winning games.”
Elsewhere in the Women’s Premiership there are derby clashes that see Cliftonville Ladies face Crusaders Strikers and Lisburn Rangers up against Lisburn Ladies, while Linfield Women are at home to Larne Women.
