SAOIRSE Noonan refused to celebrate either of her two goals against Cork City on Saturday afternoon out of respect for her former club and also her former teammates.

Noonan netted at the St Anne’s End in the first half before grabbing a second in front of the Shed late on to help Shelbourne secure a 3-0 win against City in their first game at their new home at Turner’s Cross.

The 21-year-old insisted she felt relieved to notch her first goals for Shels in only her second league game and when asked if she considered celebrating it she replied; “Definitely not.

“I respect the girls so much, everyone, the management and all are great so I would never do that.

“But it was nice to get on the scoresheet, I will definitely celebrate if I score against other teams but just for today, I thought it was fair not to.

This is Cork City... Turner’s Cross is just, this is my home pitch nearly. 

"For the girls to be able to play all their home games here on this pitch is outstanding.

“They deserve it and they deserve all those stands to be full because they are a credit to themselves for the work they put in. But yeah, scoring at both ends was nice.

“I just anticipated that it would come to me (for the first goal), I think as a striker it’s really important that you keep thinking that and that’s what I did. Lucky enough I was at the back post and just slotted it in.

“I felt a bit relieved. Be it Cork City or not, just to get a goal for Shels was really important for me just to get my feet settled on the ground here so that was nice and obviously to go on and get another one in the second half was great.

“It’s important for a striker to get goals. Goals win games and leagues and that’s what I’m here for.” 

While the result leaves City with just one point from their two tricky opening games, Noonan’s Shelbourne side couldn’t be better placed.

It’s now two wins out of two, five goals scored and none conceded for Noel King’s impressive squad but his new number 11 knows it’s still very early days in the Women’s National League title race.

“It’s only early days, we are only starting to know how each other plays now and get a feel for each other,” added Noonan.

“It’s important that we do that and it’s important that we get the points on the board because every point is going to count this year, every team is strong and it’s going to be really competitive.

“I’m enjoying it so far and hopefully we can stay up there.”