Their thoughts might have been preoccupied with Saturday morning’s World Cup draw, but club duty called for the bulk of the Republic of Ireland’s overseas contingent at the weekend, Irish captain Katie McCabe and goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan left most content with their outings.
McCabe rounded off a stellar week with Arsenal which began with a stunning 5-1 win away to holders Lyons in their Champions League group game last Wednesday. And it ended with a record-equalling 12th successive Super League win, and a record-extending 10th clean sheet in a row, when they won 2-0 at Liverpool –- for whom McCabe’s international comrades Niamh Fahey and Megan Campbell started.
Meanwhile, Brosnan, who is fighting off the challenge of England under-23 international Emily Ramsey for her place in goal for Everton, kept a clean sheet in Saturday’s 1-0 Super League win away to Aston Villa, a result that lifted her side to fourth in the table.
Izzy Atkinson was the only other Irish player on a winning Super League side over the weekend, coming on for the last 10 minutes of West Ham’s 3-2 win at home to Reading. Diane Caldwell was brought on by Reading in injury time, but goalkeeper Grace Moloney was once again absent. And another of the Irish squad’s goalkeepers, Megan Walsh, was on the wrong end of a 2-0 defeat by Chelsea.
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There was no joy either for the squad’s trio playing their football on the continent, Kyra Carusa’s HB Koge losing their first league game in 18 months, Brondby, their chief rivals in the Danish league, beating them 1-0.
Amber Barrett’s Potsdam stay rooted to the bottom of the Bundesliga table after losing 2-0 to Meppen, while Niamh Farrelly was an unused sub in Parma’s 3-1 home defeat by Pomigliano, which leaves them second from bottom of Serie A.
