- Gareth O'Reilly
- Mon, Oct 07 2013
A red card for goal keeper Michelle Watson summed up what was a miserable afternoon at the office for the home side as they crashed to a four nil defeat at the hands of Galway WFC. A hat-trick from woman of the match Sinead Taylor to go alongside Grainne Barrett's opener gave Nigel Keady's side an easy three points.
Galway always looked in control of this game and should have gone in front after just ten minutes when McKey found herself in space at the back post but failed to get enough of a connection on it to steer it past Michelle Watson in the Shamrock Rovers goal.
Galway's strikers continued to cause the home defence issues as Lucy Hannon and Taylor linked up to create numerous chances throughout the game. A winding run down the wing on the half hour mark resulted in the former having a good chance to score and would have had it not been for Watson performing further heroics in the Rovers goal.
Galway then went in front just five minutes before half time as Grainne Barrett curled in an exquisite free kick from the edge of the area to give the girls from the West the lead.
The first half action wasn't over there however as Sinead Taylor got her first of the game on the stroke of half time, smashing home from six yards out.
The second half was only ten minutes old when a number of bizarre events took place. First Megan O'Reilly managed to injure herself taking a corner. As play continued the Rovers physio and doctor sprinted over to assist O'Reilly. Up the other end of the field however things were going to get even worse for Rovers as Michelle Watson charged off her line before clattering into a Galway WFC player inside the box.
As both players lay down on the pitch the physio and doctor then proceeded to run the length of the pitch to treat Watson. Having completed this task and helped Watson back to her feet the referee then proceeded to rightly show Watson a red card.
As if the sending off of Watson wasn't bad enough, Shamrock Rovers were also without a substitute goalkeeper on their bench meaning that Aisling Cusack was forced to come off the bench and play in goal for the last half hour of this game. Sinead Taylor then stepped up and smashed the penalty home.
With fifteen minutes left to go Galway scored their fourth and Sinead Taylor got her third. Stand-in goalkeeper Cusack failed to secure a cross in the box. This caused a penalty area scramble which was eventually ended when Taylor smashed the ball into the back of the net.
Shamrock Rovers: Michelle Watson, Niamh Kenna, Joanne Ennis, Ciara Smith, Grainne Walsh, Megan O'Reilly (Aisling Cusack 54), Stacey Nesbith (Edei O'Doherty 85), Julie Lonboss, Laura Chambers, Rosie Maguire, Andrea Curle (Lisa Murphy 78)
Subs Not Used: Sarah O'Donogue, Megan McGuinness, Aisling Driver, Riona Cullen
Yellow Cards: None
Red Cards: Michelle Watson (54)
Galway WFC: Melissa Casserly, Shauna Fox (Nicky Rogers 68), Keara Cormican (Becky Walsh 21), Caroline Carter, Jenny Byrne, Lynsey McKey, Ruth Fahy, Lisa Casserly, Grainne Barett, Sinead Taylor, Lucy Wannan (Aishling Hughes 75)
Subs Not Used: Eamma Treanor, Saoirse Lenihen, Noreen Davorey, Susie Cunningham
Yellow Cards: Lucy Hannon (35)
Red Cards: None
Referee: Natasha Valenti
Woman Of The Match: Sinead Taylor (Galway WFC) - The hat-trick hero made the difference for Galway
