Raheny United 5 - 0 Castlebar Celtic

Raheny United propelled themselves to the top of the Bus Eireann Women's National League after a five nil victory over Castlebar Celtic at Morton Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Rebecca Creagh and Katie McCabe were the stars of the show for the home side, McCabe was involved in all five of the Raheny goals while Creagh admitted she hadn’t bagged a hat trick.

The Northsiders dominated proceeding with the Westerners failing to test Raheny stopper Niamh Reid Burke.

After a cagey opening from both sides, the game sprang to life on 21 minutes. Katie McCabe, playing as more an outside left, raced down the Castlebar right crossing for Rebecca Creagh to nod home after a tussle with Celtic’s Katie Walsh.

Celtic did not get much of a rest bite and two minutes later McCabe used her tricky skills to cross for Caroline Thorpe to riffle home a volley and make it two nil.

Castlebar felt the loss of leading goal scorer Emma Mullen as they lacked a cutting edge and allowed the Raheny defence time to rebuild attacks.

The break was the only rest bite the Castlebar defence received and eight minutes after the restart McCabe turned from provider to goal scorer.

Creagh’s right hand corner evaded everyone as it travelled past the Castlebar goal and McCabe calmly side footed the ball home past Ashling Concannon in the Celtic net.

The hosts didn’t hang around and seven minutes later they added their fourth of the season and their eleventh against Castlebar this season.

McCabe again was the creator as she raced at the Castlebar defence her cross aimed for Creagh in the centre who was tracked by Stacy Muldoweny.

The ball looped up over Ashling Concannon and over the line a goal where the Raheny players and supporters failed to celebrate.

Photos from Peter Fitzpatrick

Rebecca Creagh admitted after wards she hadn’t made contact and that the Castlebar defender had deflected the ball into her own net.

Creagh wrapped up the scoring on 64 minutes as she danced through the Castlebar defence wrestling off the challenge of Katie Walsh before calmly slotting the ball home.

Castlebar were reduced to ten players with 15 minutes left on the clock when Mairia Harrington came off the worst of a tackle with Katie McCabe.

The ten westerners battled well to hold off the Raheny onslaught with Mary Walderon and Catherine Cronin missing the target after good build up work.

Raheny United:  Niamh Reid Burke, Ciara Grant, Rachel Graham, Seanna Cooke, Megan Campbell, Siobhan Killeen, Mary Walderon, Caroline Thorpe, Pearl Slattery, Katie McCabe, Rebecca Creagh
Subs: Catherine Cronin for Siobhan Killeen, Sinead O’Farrelly  for Seanna Cooke, Kate McKeever for Caroline Thorpe
Subs not used: Shauna Newman, Noelle Murray, Grace McAuley Ryan

Castlebar Celtic: Ashling Concannon, Shauna Fox, Katie Walsh, Trish Moran, Theresa Fahy, Sara McGeough, Ashling Hughes, Jenny Byrne, Emma Handberry, Maria Harrington, Shannagh Jackson
Subs: Stacy Muldowney for Trish Moran

Extratime.ie player of the game: Rebecca Creagh