Castlebar Celtic will be making the long trip to Ferrycarrig Park on Sunday for their eighth round game in the Continental Tyre’s Women’s National League to take on table toppers Wexford Youths. The southeastern team are two points ahead of second placed Raheny United, with UCD Waves just three points behind them in third place.
As for Celtic their winning run was put to a stop last Saturday night in Celtic Park when Raheny United came to town and went away with a 3-1. The Dublin side took the lead early on, but Celtic levelled the game up through an Aisling Egan goal after 17 minutes, before the metropolitans struck twice more once in each half to take the three points home with them.
In their previous two games, Celtic had seen off local rivals Galway WFC and Cork City WFC to pick up their first two wins of the season and push them away from the basement of the division. They followed up their 4-3 win over Galway WFC in Eamonn Deacy Park three weeks ago, with an impressive 5-1 win over Cork City in a rearranged clash a fortnight back. The goals coming from Rachel Kearns, Emma Hansberry, Jess Nolan, Aoife Brennan, and Charlene Graham.
Manager Adrian Carberry would have hoped that his side could have built on those wins last weekend, but Raheny United, who had only the week previously claimed the FAI Senior Cup, proved too strong for the Hoops’.
This Sunday’s meeting with the women from Wexford Youths will be another serious test for Carberry’s charges. The sides met in round two of the league back at the tail end of August and Wexford Youths went home from Celtic Park with the points thanks to a 2-1 win. Ashling Frawley put Wexford into the lead in that game before Orla Devaney pulled Celtic level with Kylie Murphy netting the winner just before half-time. Celtic will be hoping they can return the favour on Sunday. Carberry will be looking for strong performances from Rachel King in goal, with Nicole Fowley and Aisling Egan at the back, while Sarah Rowe and Rachel Kearns will be expected to run the midfield, with Emma Hansberry and Aoife Herbert hoping to poach a couple of goals.
