Saturday evening’s game in Eamon Deacy Park kicks off at 5pm. Coverage on LOITV

Having come so close to winning the tie in 90 minutes, and then winning after extra-time and penalties, was the Wexford FAI Cup game a bit of a rollercoaster in the end?

It was an absolute rollercoaster. It was a pretty even first half. They had some chances, we had some chances so a draw at half-time was fair as it was going but second half, I think we created an awful lot of chances, that could have cost us in the end. It’s nice that we were able to stay focused and keep working hard towards trying to get the right result at the end of it. We have been working during the week, trying to finish our chances a little bit better but it’s one of those things – if you weren’t creating those chances, you’d be more concerned. It’s not like we aren’t creating them so we just need to work on the final details and being able to finish them.

What pleased you about our play, and also the character shown by the players on the day?

The number of chances that we created was pleasing, even if we should be finishing more than what we did. The other side of it as well was the mental toughness that we showed. Not only did we finish physically strong – several of their players were going down with cramp while none of ours were – it’s nice to know that for the physical aspect, we’re in the right place but also then from the mental standpoint. Because that’s our very first penalty shoot-out and the confidence going into it from the players was very pleasing.

Melissa O’Kane was our match winner, having given Rovers the lead with her opening goal too but Amanda Budden the hero with two penalty saves. Were you confident she would pull one off?

She’s one of the best goalkeepers in the league. There’s plenty of goalkeepers that you’d be facing and confident that you’d score but against Amanda, she’s one of those goalkeepers; she’s big, athletic and fills the frame of the goal. Once you go to a penalty shoot-out, I would always have confidence in Amanda of saving one, at a minimum.

That put Rovers into the quarter-final of the Cup where we will meet Shelbourne, a familiar foe and another big home game to look forward to down the line…

We were actually joking at the end of the game when people were asking us ‘Who would you like to get in the next round?’ and we said we probably won’t have a choice! They look at every opportunity they can to put us and Shelbourne together, so it’s going to be Shelbourne. We joked about it in Tallaght after the game so it’s funny that it ended up being Shelbourne again. It’s a great tie, it’s a big game and you want to be playing in big games. You want to be playing against tough opposition and challenging yourself. If you want to win trophies at the end of the year, you’re going to have to play in these games and try and beat these kinds of sides, so it’s one to look forward to.

Galway came out on top in the reverse fixture in Tallaght in May. What did we take from that game that we need to watch out for in terms of their threats?

They’re very good going forward. They’re very good from set pieces, not just that but secondary plays from set plays. We’re going to have to do a bit of work to try and nullify that threat. Julie-Ann-Russell has been very good for them and they have loads of attacking options, so we’re going to have to make sure that defensively, we don’t make any kind of silly mistakes on the day.

This game will be called a dress rehearsal for next Saturday’s All-Ireland final and everyone in the team will want a place in your team for that final, so is that added motivation on top of the league points at stake?

It is, there’s good competition for places so it’s a chance for one or two players to go and try and stake a claim for a starting spot for that All-Ireland final. That sort of competition and fight to get into that starting lineup is what you’re looking for, to keep everyone on their toes. It’s interesting the way last year we had Cork in the Cup and we also had them in the league the week before, and it was the same with Shels, we had them in the league the week before we had them in the semi-final so again, we have a league game and a Cup game with the same side back-to-back.

Is anyone unavailable for this game?

Jaime Thompson is out injured; she’ll be another week or two. Summer Lawless is out with a sprained thumb and Scarlett Herron is also going to be out due to the passing of her grandfather on Thursday. May he rest in peace.