Dominican College, Taylor’s Hill, Galway 2/0 Christ King Girls’ Secondary School, Cork
Shauna Fox (10), Alanna Moran (58)
Munster Champions Christ the King Girls’ Secondary School were beaten this afternoon by Dominican College, Taylor’s Hill 2/0 in what was a thrilling encounter in University of Limerick (Thursday, March 6) reports Paul Kirwan
The Cork side were without the services of U19’s International Megan Connolly which proved to be a big miss as they narrowly missed out on a place in the final:
Early signs looked good for Cork as they had most of the possession but failed to create any clear cut chances and were made to pay on 10 minutes as Shauna Fox stepped up to smash a free kick into the top corner from a tight angle just outside the box:
The goal seemed to give the Galway side a boost of confidence as they pressed high and were unlucky not to double their lead after Alanna Moran had an excellent shot on goal only for Erin O’Donavan to get down well to save
Cork though had other ideas and went straight up the other end and almost equalised on 17 minutes when Saoirse Noonan had a shot on target but Anesi Igunme stayed firm and palmed the ball wide: Cork did have the ball in the net on 20 minutes courtesy of the lively Saoirse Noonan only for it to be ruled out for off/side:
29 minutes in and a neat move combining Kate Leneghan and Saoirse Noonan saw an attack from the left wing which Saoirse cut in and let fly at goal but again Anesi Igunme was ever present to deny the Corkian’s
Taylor’s Hill maintained the one goal advantage as the interval approached
An injury to Cork’s Belen De Luis forced Pauline Hayes into a substitution with her lively full back limping off the field on 49 minutes, replaced by the impressive Orlaith Magner
Christ King went close once again when Megan Dennehy hit a free kick in a similar spot from where Galway had scored from earlier, however this attempt smashed the woodwork and Taylor’s Hill stalwart Ailbhe Farrell cleared the ball out of the danger zone
Some great link up play down the centre of the pitch saw Ellie O’Flaherty put Alanna Moran through on goal and she did well to keep cool and slot the ball into the bottom corner with 22 minutes left to play:
The Taylor’s Hill contingency were growing stronger with this two goal cushion as Aoife Walsh, Shauna Fox and Ciara Lynagh were all making a positive impact
A late flurry of chances fell to Cork who just couldn’t capitalise on the possession as Dominican College held tight for the final whistle:
Anesi Igunme had an outstanding performance for the Westerners to ensure a clean sheet in a fantastic team effort:
The Galway girls will now face reigning Champions Moville Community College on Wednesday, March 19:
DOMINICAN COLLEGE, TAYLOR’S HILL: Anesi Igunme, Leah Doyle, Claire Conroy, Ailbhe Farrell, Shauna Fox, Elle O’Flaherty, Aoife Walsh, Ciara Lynagh, Alanna Moran, Aideen Naughton, Eva Gilmore
SUBS: Rebecca Gilligan, Emily Roger, Ella O’Keefe, Myah Greaney, Emer Alone
TEACHER: Geoff Drea, COACH: John Power
CHRIST KING GIRLS’ SS, CORK: Erin O’Donavan, Belen De Luis (Orlaith Magner, 49), Laura O’Brien, Aoife Russell, Rachel Compagno, Orla Murphy (Kate Leneghan, 26), Megan Dennehy, Michelle Murphy, Niamh McGreevy, Saoirse Noonan (Laura O’Byrne, 64), Jade Fox
SUBS: Laoise Heffernan, Rachel Oriade
Management: Pauline Hayes, Fergal O’Leary
REFEREE: Eugene Nunan (Limerick)