Scotland claimed the women’s Celtic Cup thanks to an amazing ten-goal scoring spree against sorry France, beating hosts Ireland to the title on goal difference.
With the Scots and Irish level on points and just one separating the pair, the final positions were always going to be decided by which side could perform better on another day of torrential rain, thunder, lightning interspersed by some hot sun in the Southern capital.
Scotland burst out of the traps, building up a 4-0 lead after 25 minutes, Julie Bryce, Holly Cram, Kate McKay and Fiona Donald on the mark. Charlotte Boyer pulled one back from a corner but Leigh Fawcett restored the advantage by half-time. The dominant pattern continued in the second half. Holly Cram completed her hat-trick to end as tournament top-scorer with five while Mackay netted a second.
It meant the Irish needed an eight-goal advantage to overhaul Scotland. They started in decent fashion with Eimear Cregan – who was at her marauding best all afternoon – calling Maggs Rees into action early on after a neat exchange with Lizzie Colvin.
Ireland broke the deadlock in the 18th minute when Hollie Moffett’s long corner found its way untouched all the way to the back post where Shirley McCay was on hand to tap in. Emma Clarke banged in a rebound 40 seconds later and the Irish spied a comic-book end to the tournament as a flurry of chances went a begging.
Wales, though, held out until half-time, Rees denying Roisin Flinn in a one-on-one, leaving Ireland an enormous task. Two Alex Speers’ chances were sinfully missed soon after the restart, effectively ending any chance of the unlikely. As the game began to meander, Sophie Robinson deflected in Vanessa Hawkins shot to make it 2-1 before Emma Stewart scored Ireland’s third before a hail-storm delayed the final, nigh-on meaningless, nine minutes play.
Despite missing out on the title, coach Gene Muller was pleased with how he felt new players to the squad had been incorporated. "I am very happy with our progress over the weekend we are a team with an average age of twenty one. The new girls came in and fitted in well. I was also pleased with the number of chances we created this week this week although we are still not scoring as many as I would like."
Results: France 2 (Charlotee Boyer, Geraldine Bonenfant) Scotland 10 (Julie Bryce, Holly Cram 3, Katie Mackay 2, Fiona Donald, Leigh Fawcett, Claire Scott, Laura Wrightson); Ireland 3 (Shirley McCay, Emma Clarke, Emma Stewart) Wales 1 (Sophie Robinson)
With the Scots and Irish level on points and just one separating the pair, the final positions were always going to be decided by which side could perform better on another day of torrential rain, thunder, lightning interspersed by some hot sun in the Southern capital.
Scotland burst out of the traps, building up a 4-0 lead after 25 minutes, Julie Bryce, Holly Cram, Kate McKay and Fiona Donald on the mark. Charlotte Boyer pulled one back from a corner but Leigh Fawcett restored the advantage by half-time. The dominant pattern continued in the second half. Holly Cram completed her hat-trick to end as tournament top-scorer with five while Mackay netted a second.
It meant the Irish needed an eight-goal advantage to overhaul Scotland. They started in decent fashion with Eimear Cregan – who was at her marauding best all afternoon – calling Maggs Rees into action early on after a neat exchange with Lizzie Colvin.
Ireland broke the deadlock in the 18th minute when Hollie Moffett’s long corner found its way untouched all the way to the back post where Shirley McCay was on hand to tap in. Emma Clarke banged in a rebound 40 seconds later and the Irish spied a comic-book end to the tournament as a flurry of chances went a begging.
Wales, though, held out until half-time, Rees denying Roisin Flinn in a one-on-one, leaving Ireland an enormous task. Two Alex Speers’ chances were sinfully missed soon after the restart, effectively ending any chance of the unlikely. As the game began to meander, Sophie Robinson deflected in Vanessa Hawkins shot to make it 2-1 before Emma Stewart scored Ireland’s third before a hail-storm delayed the final, nigh-on meaningless, nine minutes play.
Despite missing out on the title, coach Gene Muller was pleased with how he felt new players to the squad had been incorporated. "I am very happy with our progress over the weekend we are a team with an average age of twenty one. The new girls came in and fitted in well. I was also pleased with the number of chances we created this week this week although we are still not scoring as many as I would like."
Results: France 2 (Charlotee Boyer, Geraldine Bonenfant) Scotland 10 (Julie Bryce, Holly Cram 3, Katie Mackay 2, Fiona Donald, Leigh Fawcett, Claire Scott, Laura Wrightson); Ireland 3 (Shirley McCay, Emma Clarke, Emma Stewart) Wales 1 (Sophie Robinson)
No comments:
Post a Comment