Peamount 2 Cork City 0

Early goals from Ellen Dolan and Rebecca Watkins made all the difference at Greenogue Park on Saturday evening as Cork City kick-started their SSE Airtricity Women’s Premier Division campaign for 2025 with a two-goal defeat to Peamount United.

City had found themselves under pressure from the very early moments of this contest and the deadlock was ultimately broken by their Dublin counterparts on the stroke of 10 minutes. After Jess Fitzgerald had enticingly delivered a corner from the right wing into the opposition box, Dolan was on hand to expertly side-foot beyond the reach of City netminder Una Doyle.

Peamount’s tails were now up as a result of this well-crafted opener and the hosts doubled their lead just four minutes later when a Watkins shot at a right-hand angle squeezed through the fingertips of Doyle onto its way into the back of the net.

Now back under the management of Frank Kelleher, City were already left with a mountain to climb in this game. Yet the visitors persevered with their challenge and Dring was unfortunate to see her goal-bound header off a Cork corner being cleared off the line by Peamount defender Mary Phillips.

Ex-City netminder Amanda Budden was between the sticks for the home team and she produced a superb point-blank stop from her former team-mate Ciara McNamara just past the half-hour mark.

The fact that they were creating these opportunities would have offered plenty of encouragement to Kelleher and his coaching staff, but City ultimately still trailed 2-0 at the interval.

While Doyle did save a close-range shot from Peamount substitute Antea Guvo five minutes into the second half, City continued to hold their own in the general run of play. The introduction of Aoibhin Donnelly and Cathranne Fitzgerald added fresh impetus to their game, while Eva Mangan (on her 100th appearance for City) was also exerting a strong influence around the middle third.

Another clearance off the line kept Peamount’s two-goal cushion intact moving into the final quarter before Donnelly also lashed over from long-range. Donnelly subsequently fired marginally off-target from a late effort on the right-hand side, but Cork native Budden was determined to keep a clean sheet against her old club.

Although Cork fell to an opening day defeat in the end, there were enough positives over the course of the whole game to suggest that they can get something out of their first home league encounter of the season against Sligo Rovers next weekend.

PEAMOUNT UNITED: Amanda Budden; Lauryn O’Callaghan, Mary Phillips, Abby Tuthill (Neala Byrne 92), Chloe Moloney; Ciara Maher (Sorcha Melia half-time), Jess Fitzgerald; Rebecca Watkins (Ruby Gallagher 77), Sadhbh Doyle (Antea Guvo half-time), Freya Healy; Ellen Dolan.

CORK CITY: Una Doyle; Ciara Fitzpatrick, Ciara McNamara, Niamh Cotter, Heidi Mackin; Fiana Bradley (Ellie O’Brien 67), Heidi O’Sullivan (Aoibhin Donnelly 60), Kiera Sena, Shaunagh McCarthy; Eva Mangan, Christina Dring (Cathranne Fitzgerald 60).

Referee: Claire Purcell (Waterford).