SWPL Cup final: Eileen Gleeson keen to break Glasgow City hoodoo
The Glasgow City boss is aiming to claim the trophy in Sunday's final against Celtic weeks after joining the Scottish champions
A first SWPL Cup final win since 2015 would be “amazing” says Glasgow City head coach Eileen Gleeson.
The Dubliner leads the Scottish champions into the first cup final of the seasonn when they take on Celtic at Firhill on Sunday, and the first SWPL Cup final since 2019 when City were losing finalists on penalties to Hibernian.
A win for City would equal Hibs’ total of seven SWPL Cup wins. In Gleeson’s first game in charge last month she ended the Edinburgh side’s six-year grip on the trophy in the semi-final.
“It would be amazing for me,” Gleeson told Anyone’s Game.
“I’d be honoured and delighted to do that [win the Cup] for the club, but it’s really important to mention that I came in at the semi-final stage, and that was thanks to Grant Scott and the work he did before I came in.”
Glasgow City have been the dominant force in the SWPL with 14 league titles in a row, so understandably there’s a degree of pressure to see their dominance be matched in the cup competition.
Gleeson, who won three of her previous seven cup finals back in her homeland, is relishing the challenge to maintain Glasgow City’s ‘identity as champions’.
“It’s important to be measured in your approach,” said the former Peamount United and UCD waves manager.
“To keep the focus, and not get overly emotional. The players are well versed in their tasks for the game.”
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