Cork Women 1 - 2 Peamount United

Goals from Solene Barbance and Stephanie Roche were enough to secure another three points against Cork Women for Peamount United on Sunday afternoon. However, the result - coupled with a win for Raheny United - was not sufficient to see the visitors reclaim their League title at Turner’s Cross.

Cork Women’s FC started the match brightly with Denise O’Sullivan and Clare Shine causing problems early on. Stephanie Roche tried and failed to curl an effort around Linda McNamara’s reach with eight minutes gone, before a cross inside from Shine was parried by Monica McGuirk and then hacked clear by the visitors’ defence with O’Sullivan lurking.

The home side had another great chance to go ahead three minutes later when Amy O’Connor found herself baring down on goal - having been put through by Shine - but she fired her shot straight at the advancing Peamount keeper, who blocked bravely.

It was against the run of play then that Solene Barbance pounced on Grace Murray’s corner to find the back of McNamara’s net on 18 minutes, a classy finish from the Peamount winger.

CWFC might have hit right back when Shine had an effort drift to the left and wide of McGuirk’s goalpost with two more half chances for the visitors to edge further ahead before the break. First, McNamara failed to collect Russell’s cross but Roche couldn’t direct the loose ball on target; McNamara then made an excellent block from Clare Kinsella before watching Aine O’Gorman blast the rebound wide.

Cork Women’s FC took the game to Peamount in the second half - Knightly unlucky to see a fine header graze just wide of the post from another decent O’Connor cross on 50 minutes.

Shine planted a free kick straight into the arms of McGuirk just after the hour mark but though CWFC had plenty of possession, they - simply - could not find their final touch inside the box.

Peamount eventually went two ahead with 20 minutes remaining - Roche, drifting around the edge of the area all day, picked up a lovely ball from Russell and curled a well-struck effort around the reach of McNamara, leaving the Cork keeper with no chance. It was a moment of brilliant from Roche but a little harsh on a home side that have been much improved in recent games.

Maurice Farrell’s side battled on, however, and though they did lose the services of stalwart Denise O’Sullivan to injury on 74 minutes, they still managed to have the final say in the contest. Shine set O’Connor free down the left and her attempts to get a shot away on goal were deflected to the back of the net by Peamount defender Emily Cahill.

With regular goalkeeper Trisha Fennelly playing up front alongside Shine for the final minutes of the game, CWFC did endeavour to produce an equaliser but it was Peamount that came close to scoring again when McNamara tipped Russell’s cross onto her own post and gathered at a second attempt.

All in all, another promising display from a youthful Cork Women’s FC side while Peamount United were left to reflect on what might have been.

CWFC: Linda McNamara; Nathalie O’Brien, Lauren Murphy, Ciara O’Connell, Emma Farmer; Megan Kelleher, Amy O’Connor, Sarah O’Donovan, Clare Shine; Denise O’Sullivan, Eimear Knightly.

Substitutes: Claudia Hudner, Lynsey McKey, Trisha Fennelly.

Peamount Utd: Monica McGuirk; Jetta Berrill, Grace Murray, Emily Cahill, Susan Byrne; Ruth Comerford, Julie Ann Russell, Aine O’Gorman, Solene Barbance; Stephanie Roche, Claire Kinsella.

Substitutes: Sara Lawlor, Jennifer Ferrari, Emma Donohue.