WYW v Shelbourne LFC

[ForzaForth]

Another awful night for football in Ferrycarrig with the wind threatening to blow the canopy off the stand as a more determined and clinical Shelbourne may have dealt a mortal blow to WYW's efforts to retain their league title. WYW did, however, force Amanda McQuillan between the sticks for Shelbourne to have an excellent game for the away side. WYW began with the same XI as against Galway with Sophie, Nicola, Lauren, Jess, Linda, Kylie, Emma, Aisling and with Maria and Claire up front. Although Shelbourne were playing with the aid of the swirling wind, it was WYW which started the better with Claire O'Riordan getting a shot away early on, but it went a yard wide of the post. On the quarter hour, a good WYW move saw the ball arrive at the far post to Aisling Frawley but McQuillan got down to save. McQuillan was then lucky to get away with making contact with Kylie Murphy inside the box as the latter won the contested ball in the air. Slightly against the run of play, Shels went ahead in the 21st minute when a cross by Leanne Kiernan made its way to the back post where best player on the pitch, Siobhan Killeen, tucked it inside the other post for 1-0 to Shels. This gave Shels the momentum to dominate the game for a large spell, with Sophie Lenehan doing well to keep a snapshot out by Noelle Murray five minutes later. However, a peno was then awarded to Shels for a push on Kiernan and Noelle Murray put it past Sophie for 2-0 to Shels with 35 minutes gone. With eight minutes to go in the half, Chelsee Snell came on in place of Lauren Dwyer for the Youths with Jess Gleeson moving into centre-half in the middle of the Youth's back three. 2-0 to Shelbourne at half-time with the Youths having the advantage of the strong wind for the second half.

[ForzaForth]

Just before the break, McQuillan had made a wonderful save to deny Claire O'Riordan a certain goal. In the second period, Shelbourne had a goal disallowed for offside after five minutes, and a minute later, Maria Delahunty for WYW was through on goal, but her shot was pushed away by McQuillan. With nine minutes gone, Shels looked to make the game safe, when a good run and cross by Killeen was finished to the net by a Shels attacker for 3-0. However, WYW continued to press and on ten minutes, Linda Douglas had a shot pushed away by McQuillan for a corner. WYW applied further pressure from then on, but the Shels defence managed to keep the lid on most of the WYW attacking ploys. With 20 minutes to go, Orla Casey came on in place of Emma Hansberry for the Youths. Just as Wexford looked like not troubling the scoreboard a close-in effort by Kylie Murphy hit the back of the net although it seemed to get a major deflection off a Shels defender. With two minutes to go in the game, McQuillan tipped over the bar another effort on goal by Linda Douglas, and Shels were home and hosed on a 3-1 scoreline.

[ForzaForth]

Best for Wexford were Linda Douglas and Nicola Sinnott, while the WYW midfield will be puzzled to work out why Noelle Murray was so prominent for Shels given the number of bodies WYW had in the middle of the pitch. A common complaint for WYW, the isolation of Claire O'Riordan up front, will also have to be solved by Gary Hunt and one option might be to move Aisling Frawley from her left wing position in behind Claire in an advanced position where her passing skills could be used to best advantage. 3-1 to Shels at full-time.