Galway Women’s FC claimed their first victory under new coach Billy Clery in this season's Continental Tyres WNL when overcoming Kilkenny United by 3-2.
It mattered little that Galway sealed the deal late - it was not until the 85th minute when Lynsey McKey grabbed the winner - but manager Billy Clery says continued improvement is necessary ahead of Saturday's trip to Dublin where they take on Peamount United.
“Bottom line is, we’ve only three points on the board so we’re off the mark in the league," he says. "We have to be picking up points, we need to be more competitive.
“Overall, I thought we were very flat today - a very poor overall performance even though we did create a lot of chances. We didn’t move the ball quickly, got caught in possession a number of times, but in saying that, we still created chances.”
However both sides contributed to an enthralling contest. Kilkenny United took the lead through a Becky Conroy strike from outside the box after an hour, but within 20 seconds Galway had equalised. Having narrowly missed after Aislinn Meaney’s cross from the right, McKey made no mistake after Sadhbh Doyle played the ball back into the six-yard box.
The second half produced three goals, first from substitute Rachel Baynes who fired Galway into the lead on 53 minutes from Alina Cheatham’s cross. However, Kilkenny’s riposte was just as swift when Becky Conroy finishd from an acute angle with her second.
It produced a tense final quarter before McKey scored her second following some excellent work and a pullback by the industrious Meaney.
