WYW v UCD Waves

[ForzaForth]

A performance in which Wexford played well in patches was enough to see off a decent UCD Waves side in Ferrycarrig this evening and maintain WYW’s momentum at the top of the table. Wexford began with Sophie, Nicola, Lolly, Lauren, Doireann, Katrina, Kylie, Edel, Emma, Orla and with Rianna up front. WYW started impressively and forced a couple of corners very early on. The set-piece delivery by Emma Hansberry from these corners is exceptional and while UCD could just about clear the first one at the expense of another corner, the second was poked home by Kylie Murphy at the near post to put Wexford a goal ahead. Perhaps because of the rock-hard pitch, Wexford then gave the ball away sloppily on a couple of occasions thereafter, but the quality of the WYW defenders is such that they were always able to recover. On 23 minutes, Rianna Jarrett had the ball in the net but was ruled out for offside. Rianna was not to be denied two minutes later when a great block by Katrina Parrock of an attempted clearance by a UCD defender fell straight to Rianna who volleyed it into the empty net for 2-0. Edel Kennedy then had a drive which went past the far post to leave WYW two goals ahead at half-time.

[ForzaForth]

Second half was fairly undistinguished by both sides again probably due to the difficult playing conditions. However, on twenty minutes a goal a bit out of the blue fell again to Rianna Jarrett when she smacked a header in off the crossbar from a good cross by an impressive Nicola Sinnott. Rianna then nearly followed that with a stunning effort when her left-footed shot was palmed away by UCD’s Erica Turner for a corner. Emma Hansberry then put another corner on a plate for an inrushing Kylie Murphy who steered it wide and Emma forced Turner to push another good effort over the bar. Best chance of the game for the away side then fell to UCD’s Rachel Doyle who couldn’t keep a volley of a bouncing ball on target from reasonably close in. Subs for Wexford in the second half were Aoife Slattery, Ciara Delaney and Becky Cassin. Best for Wexford were the defenders Nicola, Lolly and Lauren who kept UCD very quiet with new arrival Doireann Fahey also impressing at left-full. Up front, Rianna Jarrett is showing a prodigious amount of talent while Emma Hansberry is making chances galore from set-pieces but the question is where to play her – out wide or in a central role. For UCD, Naima Chemaou and Chloe Mustaki impressed. 3-0 to WYW at full-time.