A moment of magic ends cup dream of Galway WFC

Shelbourne 1

Galway WFC 0

Keith Kelly at Tolka Park

Galway WFC’s cup dream was ended in Tolka Park on Saturday afternoon by a goal worthy of winning any final, never mind a semi-final – hell, it was so good, it was worthy of winning the county championship, the Grand Prix of darts, and even the Great British Bake Off.

The moment of magic came in the 30th minute from Noelle Murray, and while Stephen Lally’s side dominated after the restart, they couldn’t find the equaliser, and weren’t helped by Julie-Ann Russell’s disgraceful dismissal midway through the half by a referee who smacked of a fella looking for retribution for not getting the shift on a night out in Galway back in his youth, such was his enthusiasm to brandish yellow cards to the visitors –seven in all, including one to Stephen Lally.

Becky Walsh’s attempted clearance lacked its morning porridge, scuttling along the ground to Jessie Stapleton who prodded the ball back towards the edge of the Galway WFRC penalty area. Murray chested it down before flicking it over Walsh without the ball touching the ground, and then flicked it over Savannah McCarthy, who scrambled across to try and cover.

Clear on goal now, Murray let the ball bounce once before smashing it on the half-volley past Leah Hayes Coen from eight yards out, giving the goalkeeper no chance and those of us lucky enough to be in the ground a moment of cup magic to remember.

It had been coming for, after a solid start by the westerners, the home side took control of proceedings to dominate the opening 45 minutes, and they would have been relieved to be just a goal down at the break.

They were a far stronger proposition in the second half but just lacked that little bit of creativity, and their cause was helped when Russell was twice booked by David Keeler. The first yellow came when the midfielder appeared to have been tripped by Pearl Slattery in the penalty area, but Keeler decided Russell had dived.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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