It’s getting close enough to being an annual fixture now. For the third year running Shelbourne and Athlone Town will meet in the women’s Sports Direct FAI Cup final after they came through their semi-finals at the weekend. They did so in contrasting fashions, the Dublin side cruising past Cork City on Saturday with a 5-0 win, while a single goal decided Athlone’s tie against Sligo Rovers on Sunday.
Both sides remain on course for a league and cup double, Athlone currently two points clear of Shelbourne and Galway United at the top of the Premier Division, with a game in hand.
Shelbourne turned on the style against Cork at Tolka Park, Kate Mooney and Noelle Murray, with a penalty, giving them a 2-0 half-time lead. Murray extended that advantage soon after the break, before Christie Gray and Megan Smyth-Lynch wrapped up the scoring with fine strikes. Shauna Brennan, meanwhile, got the goal that put Cup holders Athlone through to another final, a corner making its way to her on 34 minutes, her deflected effort finding the net.
Shelbourne beat Athlone 2-0 in the 2022 final, with Athlone winning out on penalties last time around. It’ll be best of three, then, at Tallaght Stadium on October 20th.
Across the water the Super League got under way, and it wasn’t an especially encouraging opening for its 14 Republic of Ireland players (the 15th, Jessie Stapleton, is on loan at Sunderland from West Ham) with only Katie McCabe, Courtney Brosnan and Anna Patten starting for their clubs.
McCabe was outstanding in Arsenal’s 2-2 draw with Manchester City in front of a crowd of 41,818 at the Emirates Stadium, named player of match after, but there was no joy for Brosnan and Patten, the former’s Everton side losing 4-0 away to Brighton, while Patten’s Aston Villa were beaten 1-0 by champions Chelsea on Friday.
The only other players to see action were Abbie Larkin (Crystal Palace), Heather Payne (Everton) and Leanne Kiernan (Liverpool), all second-half substitutes, with Niamh Fahey (Liverpool), Aoife Mannion (Manchester United), Megan Walsh (West Ham) and Izzy Atkinson (Palace) left on the bench. A shoulder injury ruled Hayley Nolan out of Palace’s first ever WSL game.
After her goalscoring spree since signing from Durham, which has included two hat-tricks, Saoirse Noonan was also a surprisingly unused sub in the first leg of Celtic’s Champions League qualifier against Vorskla Poltava on Sunday.
Caitlin Hayes started, though, and will still be at a loss to understand how she didn’t score from any of the string of headers with which she peppered the Ukrainians’ goal from set pieces. But Celtic prevailed by a single goal, scored in the fifth minute by Murphy Agnew.
They play the second leg on Thursday, which will also be in Airdrie, Poltava unable to host any games because of the conflict in their homeland. If Celtic maintain their lead they will qualify for the group stages of the Champions League for the first time.
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