WYW v Cork City LFC

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Given the extent of their injury problems, WYW will be pleased to have got over the potential banana-skin that was involved in a trip to Cork today. However, the match wasn't as comfortable as the scoreline would have suggested. Wexford began against the wind with Tamara, Nicola, Jess, Edel, Lolly, Aisling, Emma, Kylie, Linda, and with Hutchy playing behind Claire up front. Wexford started the brighter and, in the second minute, Claire set up Linda inside the box with a clever back-heel, but Linda's effort was a yard wide. On 6 minutes, the advantage of shooting against a strong breeze was shown when a high shot by Edel Kennedy held up in the wind and dropped like a stone behind Trish Fennelly in the Cork goal to put WYW 1-0 ahead. Cork's first effort on goal came on 8 minutes but it went a yard wide. Playing with the breeze, Cork applied some pressure for the remainder of the half, but the main criticism you could make of Cork was the lack of quality use of the ball in the final third leaving Tamara Furlong with very few saves to make. On 27 minutes, Cork got a free on target, but Jess Gleeson wellied it clear for a corner to leave Tamara with only a dirty jersey. Just after the half hour, Tamara Furlong in the Youth's goal had her only decent save of the game, when she pushed away well down low a decent Cork strike for a corner.

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With eight minutes to go in the half, Lolly Conlon got in a good clearance after Cork had launched a good attack down the left. Then, a bit against the run of play, Rachel Hutchinson put away Claire O'Riordan who won a 50-50 with Trish Fennelly in the Cork goal, and Claire swivelled to knock the ball home for 2-0 to the away side. This had a perceptive effect on the home side and Wexford went in looking comfortable at 2-0 up at half-time. Cork came out galvanised again in the second half and applied some pressure playing against the breeze but again without really threatening Tamara Furlong in the Youth's goal. On the hour mark, Becky Cassin came on in place of Hutchy, and five minutes later, Claire O'Riordan had a clear run-in against Trish Fennelly but the latter managed to block Claire's effort on goal.

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On 70 minutes, Emma Hansberry took a corner for the Youths which went beyond the far post, but Claire knocked it back into a dangerous area where Edel Kennedy blasted it into the roof of the net for 3-0. Remainder of the match was largely dominated by WYW, with Linda Douglas getting a shot on target which was saved by Fennelly in Cork's goal and then Edel Kennedy getting her hat-trick when she blasted a shot from twenty yards out which Fennelly couldn't keep out despite getting a strong hand to it for 4-0. Shauna Wall then came on for Emma Hansberry and proved in a short spell that she's an emerging young talent while a final sub was Ruth Fahy for the Youths. A late injury scare was Linda Douglas who got a whack very late on but seemed to run it off for a final score of 4-0 to WYW. Best for WYW were hat-trick hero Edel Kennedy who's now playing the best football of her career with Wexford while Claire O'Riordan led the line very intelligently and Lolly Conlon looked very useful at left full. Shauna Wall made her case for more game-time when she came on as a sub. Cork have improved strongly since a few seasons ago and now just need to bring their use of the ball to a higher level. 4-0 to WYW at full-time with the Youths looking to capture their first bit of silverware on Wednesday night against Shelbourne in the eagerly-awaited Shield final.