PSG finish strongly to deny Peamount
UEFA WOMEN’S CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Peamount Utd 0 Paris St Germain 2 THOUGH IT looked like they might get a positive result for long spells of this entertaining contest, Peamount United ultimately came up short in Tallaght last night, as closing-quarter goals from substitutes Nora Coton-Pelagie and Cindy Thomas gave Paris Saint-Germain a hard-earned 2-0 away win.
This was an historic night for Irish soccer, as it represented the first time that any side from the nation had qualified for the knockout stages. An encounter with the French side was always going to be a tall order, though, and Linda Meehan had to be at her very best to deny Caroline Pizzaza’s strike from the edge of the box 12 minutes in. Aurelie Conforti also had a promising opening six minutes later, but her final shot on goal went well over.
However, just when it looked like PSG were going to take control of the game, Peamount went close with a near post save 27 minutes in by goalkeeper Veronique Pons from Sara Lawlor being, followed by an agonising miss from the subsequent corner by captain Louise Quinn, who could only watch as her header from a few yards out bounced over the bar.
PSG responded by forcing Meehan into another fine save, but Pons was almost caught out on 37 minutes when lone striker Lawlor blocked down her clearance, but it ricocheted onto the roof of the net.
Given that they had shown that they had the ability to breach the PSG defence, there was now a more than realistic possibility that Peamount could pull of a major shock in this contest, and early
Second-half substitute Julie-Ann Russell had an excellent chance to open the scoring on 61 minutes when she rose highest to a right-wing cross, but Pons showed great alertness to turn her header away.
Peamount suffered a cruel set-back with 18 minutes remaining when a speculative shot on the right from PSG substitute Coton-Pelagie found its way into the bottom right-hand corner of Meehan’s goal via a massive deflection. And a superb chipped goal from the edge of the area from another second-half switch, Thomas, leaves Peamount with what may be a mission impossible in France.
PEAMOUNT UNITED: Meehan; Sinnott, Duggan, Byrne, Murray (S McGlone 86); OGorman, W McGlone (Jenkins 53), Comerford (Russell 49), Quinn, Roche; Lawlor.
PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN : Pons; Boulleau, Delannoy, Debonne, Lepailleur; Dali (Prevost 85), Pizzala, Poulain (Coton-Pelagie 67), Rubio, Houara; Conforti (Thomas 63).
Referee : A Kance (LTU).