Raheny United win Women's FAI Cup 2013

Raheny United 3 - 2 Castlebar Celtic (after extra-time)

Raheny United have secured the FAI Umbro Women’s Cup following a 3-2 victory over Castlebar Celtic after extra-time.

United took the lead twice through Ciara Grant and Noelle Murray, but Castlebar refused to give up as they responded through Emma Mullin and Deirdre Doherty. The killer blow in injury-time proved cruel as defender Kim Flood turned as header past her own goalkeeper.

Raheny could have been ahead after just ten seconds when Noelle Murray skipped through some lacklustre defending but could only drag her shot wide.

Following a cleared Katie McCabe effort off the line, the resulting corner almost caught everyone out as it smashed off the crossbar.

United finally made their dominance count after 37 minutes when Ciara Grant broke the deadlock with a looping effort over Caoimhe O’Reilly from distance.

Emma Hansberry had Castlebar’s first effort of note in first-half injury time when he free-kick found a way through a host of bodies and fizzed just wide of the target.

A quiet second half suddenly burst into life after 68 minutes when sublime work from Emma Hansberry was rounded off by Emma Mullin with relative ease. Momentum suddenly swung in the direction of Celtic who suddenly looked a lot more threatening on the break.

Noelle Murray came agonisingly close to restoring Raheny’s lead with ten minutes to go when her strike from distance curled narrowly wide.

With five minutes remaining, Raheny were awarded a penalty when O’Reilly was deemed to have fouled Caroline Thorpe. Thorpe stepped up to take the penalty and found the back of the net.

Castlebar dug deep once again for another equaliser, and they pulled it back to 2-2 in the most sublime fashion as substitute Deirdre Doherty beat Niamh Reid Burke from distance to force the game into extra-Time.

There would be one last goal in the game, leading to Celtic losing the game in the unfortunate way as Kim Flood turned her attempted clearance past her own goalkeeper into the back of the net.

Raheny United: Niamh Reid Burke; Pearl Slattery, Sinead O’ Farrelly (Shauna Newman, 91), Caroline Thorpe, Kerri Ryan; Rachel Graham, Rebecca Creagh, Ciara Grant, Siobhan Killeen; Katie McCabe (Clare Shine, 68), Noelle Murray.

Subs not used: Catherine Cronin, Niamh Walsh, Bethany Houldsworth, Christine Byrne, Kate Flood.

Castlebar Celtic: Caoimhe O’Reilly; Katie Walsh, Nicole Fowley, Kim Flood (Rachel Kearns, 119), Aisling Egan; Sarah Rowe, Yvonne Hedigan (Deirdre Doherty, 77), Rachel King, Aileen Gilroy; Emma Hansberry, Sara McGeogh (Emma Mullin, 46).

Subs not used: Niamh Kerins, Patricia Coyle, Maz Sweeney, Trish Moran.

Referee: Marie Ward.