Very sad news at the beginning of this game with a minute’s silence to mark the recent passing of Pat Ronan, a staunch supporter of the Wexford Youths/FC club and particularly of its women’s teams. His generosity in helping to keep the LOI/WNL project afloat in Wexford has been referenced on many occasions and I’m pretty sure that he has helped out previously at other LOI clubs as well. A warm friendly man, he will be sadly missed at Ferrycarrig Park. Also marked was the 200th appearance of Lauren Dwyer for the club. An outstanding defender at her best, her inclusion in only a couple of senior international squads, without ever getting game-time (if I’m right), is more than a head-scratcher. As far as the game itself is concerned, games between Wexford and Shamrock Rovers have always been close affairs, but although they were behind at the break, Wexford will feel that their domination in the second period earned them the three points. With Freya De Mange injured, Wexford started with Maria, Lolly, Della, Lauren, Kylie, Becky, Aoife, Leah, Ellen, Rossi and Aisling. The first half was relatively even until Rovers got the lead goal. On four minutes, the excellent Maria O’Sullivan half-stopped a good Rovers effort on goal, and I think it was Lauren Dwyer who hooked the ball to safety before it crossed the Wexford goal-line. After an Ellen Molloy effort was drilled straight at Summer Lawless in the Rovers goal, Rossi probably had more time than she took when smacking a half-volley just past the Rovers post when inside the opponent’s area. On 20 minutes, Lawless made a fantastic save to deny a Wexford effort from close in – I didn’t spot who the Wexford attacker was. Then, just after the half-hour, a cross from Rovers’ Jaime Thompson reached Wexford’s endline where Ella Kelly forced it home from a very acute angle. 1-0 to Rovers. Rovers then had a strong finish to the half and O’Sullivan had to make a very decent save from an Emily Corbet effort, together with other interventions, to keep Wexford only a goal behind at the break.
Wexford manager, Sean Byrne, had some work to do at halftime and, to his credit, he turned the game around completely in the second half as Wexford committed more bodies forward and largely took a stranglehold of the game. Early sighters on the Rovers goal fell to Becky Cassin, Aoife Kelly and Ciara Rossiter as Rovers were largely pinned back into their own half. After 15 minutes, Charlotte Cromack was introduced in place of Leah McGrath. Then, a half-break by Ellen Molloy resulted in the ball falling to Becky Cassin just outside the Rovers’ area, and she hit the top right bin to give Lawless no chance for 1-1. After another really good save by Lawless to prevent Wexford’s Aoife Kelly from slotting home a second for Wexford, Wexford gained from putting the ball into the danger area, when two Rovers defenders went for the same ball and headed it backwards straight to Aoife Kelly who drilled the ball low under the diving Lawless for 2-1. Any threat by Rovers came from their wings, but any crosses which resulted were tidied up by the immaculate handling of O’Sullivan in the Wexford goal. Subsequent subs for Wexford were Ciara Maher and Millie Daly and, after a shot by Ellen Molloy which again went straight at Lawless, Wexford secured the three points at the final whistle on the basis of the 2-1 scoreline with much credit again going to the home side's manager as was the case at the men’s game on Friday night. In addition to O’Sullivan in goal, there were sterling performances from the Wexford defence with Becky Cassin outstanding in front of them with her tireless work in getting forward in support of a hard-working Ellen Molloy. Kylie Murphy also came into her own in the second half with repeated winning of the ball in the air as Lawless was forced to go long. Careful analysis will have to be given as to whether Ellen Molloy’s best position is really as the lead attacker with so much of the ball coming to her with her back to goal. 2-1 to Wexford at fulltime.
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