Galway WFC suffered a heartbreaking exit from this year’s Continental Tyres WNL Cup on penalties.
Level at the end of extra time in Sunday’s cup semi-final in Dublin, Galway, for the second week in a row, lost out to Peamount United, going down 4-3 on penalties.
Peamount had the better of the early exchanges and were one up inside the first five minutes when Linda Douglas looped the ball over Christina Hughes in the Galway goal. That was followed by shots from Eleanor Ryan Doyle and Sylvia Gee, forcing saves from Hughes.
While Lisa Casserly went close for Don O’Riordan’s side, Galway began to get a foothold on the game and were rewarded with the equaliser on 37 minutes when a Méabh De Búrca shot was deflected for a corner. De Búrca took the resultant corner and found Keara Cormican in the box, and although her shot was stopped on the line, it deflected off another Peamount defender into the back of the net.
It was no more than Galway deserved, but just befor the break, former Galway player, Sinead Taylor, latched on to an overhead ball from Gee and slotted home on the stroke of half time.
Galway gained control of the game after the break, with substitutes Ellerose O’Flaherty and Alana Moran providing the Tribeswoman with fresh impetus. Galway were rewarded on 67 minutes when O’Flaherty got on to the end of a Casserly free kick from the edge of the area, finishing calmly.
On 80 minutes an audacious shot from Casserly from 30 yards just sailed over, while four minutes later from a counter attack Casserly’s shot was saved to send the game into extra time.
Moran, fresh from Taylors Hill’s path to the All Ireland schools’ final, had a number of chances, but just could not get past Brooke Dunne as the game went to the penalty shoot-out.
It was hard for Galway having dominated the game for long periods - their third national cup semi-finals without victory.
Galway WFC: C Hughes, M Kelleher, C Carter, S Fox, K Cormican, M De Burca, L Casserly, R Fahey, E Stafford, R Jacob, L McKey. Subs, O’Flaherty for Stafford, Moran for Fahey, Cunningham for Carter.
