CORK soccer star Saoirse Noonan grabbed the vital goal for the Ireland U19s on home turf yesterday.

Noonan, who is also a talented ladies footballer and won back-to-back minor All-Irelands in recent years, headed home the leveller to force a 1-1 draw with Austria in the opening fixture of the European Women’s U19 Championship Elite Round qualifier.

The Cork City Women’s FC ace has been among the goals in recent weeks for her club and three years ago she scored at Turner’s Cross for the Ireland U17s in their win against England.

“We might have pulled it at the end but at least we got a draw out of it.

“Nobody gives us a chance to qualify from this group. We have the champions Spain on Thursday and Austria are second seeds, they are the big guns.

“But we like being the underdogs. We like coming out here and showing what we are made of and I think in the second half we showed that.”

Meanwhile, yesterday’s EA Sports Cup games which were postponed due to waterlogged pitches have been rescheduled for next Monday.

Cobh Ramblers travel to Limerick and Cork City head to the RSC to face Waterford. Both matches will kick off at 7.45pm.