City denied in stoppage time
WOMEN’S SOCCER
Daire Walsh
SHELBOURNE LADIES…………………………………….. 1
CORK CITY WFC…………………………………………….. 1
CORK CITY WFC were denied a memorable victory at Morton Stadium on Saturday night, as a 93rd-minute goal from Jamie Finn helped defending champions Shelbourne Ladies to a sharing of the spoils in the Continental Tyres Women’s National League.
A stunning strike by underage international star Saoirse Noonan had Cork in the driving seat for the vast majority of their opening game of the new campaign, but pressure eventually paid off for Shels from the final attack of the contest.
Fresh from her U17 Women’s International Player of the Year nomination, Noonan produced a moment of magic to break the deadlock in the fifth-minute.
She was picked out by the returning Stacey Paul inside the Shels half, and she unleashed an unstoppable shot from 35 yards into the roof of the home team’s net. This was a real shock to the system for the Metropolitan outfit, and striker Clare Shine subsequently fired just over Amanda McQuillan’s goal.
Shels (domestic double winners in 2016) were struggling to impose themselves on the play, but as the half developed, they started to test the resolve of Cork netminder Amanda Budden. She produced an outstanding save from Leanne Kiernan on 13 minutes, and was also on hand to stop Alex Kavanagh’s rebound.
Kiernan hit the post after cutting inside from the left-wing, before Cork suffered a major set-back when Shine departed the scenes with a rib injury. This disrupted the rhythm of the game, but the outstretched arm of Budden denied Finn with five minutes remaining in the first-half.
City winger Lauren Homan had a strike turned away by McQuillan.
At the re-start Homan also shot wide via an excellent through-ball by Katie McCarthy. In the absence of Shine, Megan Kelleher operated as a midfield anchor in a re-shuffled Cork line-up.
As a result, Shels found it difficult to dictate affairs, and even though Kiernan found the net 10 minutes into the half, it was ruled out for offside. The battle for supremacy between Kiernan and Budden was a fascinating sub-plot in the game, and the Shels striker failed to find her range when she was put through at a right-hand angle just past the hour mark.
Cork had a counter-attacking threat through Noonan, Homan and Danielle Sheehy, but as Shels continued to search for an all-important equaliser, Kiernan had another goal ruled out 18 minutes from the end.
Just when the game appeared to be deserting the hosts, Finn dramatically thwarted Cork’s quest for all three points by heading home an outswinging corner in the third minute of stoppage-time.
SHELBOURNE LADIES: Amanda McQuillan; Jamie Finn, Courtney Higgins, Seana Cooke, Lynn Craven (Fiona Donnelly 71); Roma McLaughlin, Pearl Slattery, Siobhan Killeen (Kate Mooney 88); Niamh Prior, Leanne Kiernan, Alex Kavanagh.
CORK CITY WFC: Amanda Budden; Ciara Desmond (Maggie Duncliffe 73), Ciara McNamara, Stacey Paul, Danielle Burke; Evelyn Daly, Katie McCarthy; Lauren Homan, Danielle Sheehy, Saoirse Noonan; Clare Shine (Megan Kelleher 28).