Lakewood 2 Wilton 3

WILTON came from two goals down to defeat Lakewood 3-2 in the GE Healthcare CWSSL Senior Women’s First Round Challenge Cup match at Lakewood last week.

Lydia Looney’s 90th-minute goal ensuring Wilton’s progress into the next round.

This was the second time the teams had met in the space of a week, with Wilton claiming all three points in a league match, so the odds were on for yet another cracking encounter between two top teams.

It was the visitors who pressed forward from the start with the first attempt on goal falling to Emma O’Connor in the fifth minute.

Her 25-yard effort was well held by the Lakewood keeper Laura O’Donovan.

Two minutes later Lakewood’s Lily O’Farrell attempted to chip the Wilton keeper Ali Ashley from the edge of the area but her effort went just wide as chances were being created by both sides.

Lakewood’s Lauren Murphy’s effort from the corner of the area was well held by Ashley at the near corner while at the other end Lakewood keeper O’Donovan did well to clear from an advancing Ava Ronan with additional chances falling to Lakewood’s Hannah Corcoran and O’Farrell and Wilton’s Ronan and Looney whose effort came off the crossbar.

The opening score came in the 38th minute when Lakewood’s Eimear Knightly’s corner bounced around in the Wilton area and found Ali Brady who stabbed the ball into the net from eight yards.

Wilton almost equalised just before the break only for Caithlin O’Sulivan’s chip from outside the area going just over the crossbar as the home side led 1-0 at the break.

Wilton looked to get back into the game with chances falling to Ronan and O’Sullivan, but in the 64th minute, Lakewood managed to double their score when Chloe O’Donovan’s 25-yard shot went low into the Wilton corner as Lakewood were now well in control.

However, less than four minutes later Wilton pulled a goal back when Barbara O’Connell’s pass from the centre found Amy Gettings at the far corner who made no mistake from inside the area to bring her team back into the game.

Wilton were buoyed by the goal and almost had a second moments later only for O’Donovan to turn away O’Sullivan’s effort as the visitors were gaining confidence every passing minute.

Their equaliser came in the 73rd minute when a shot from outside the area was tipped onto the crossbar by the Lakewood keeper only for Looney to stab the ball home from the rebound as Wilton were back on level terms.

Lakewood’s Knightly had a chance from about 30 yards which went over, but it was Looney who broke the hosts hearts in the 90th minute as she met a high ball from the midfield and raced towards goal and managed to slip the ball past O’Donovan to give Wilton their second win over Lakewood in eight days and advance into the next round of the Challenge Cup.

LAKEWOOD: Laura O’Donovan, Sarah Geaney, Grace Oldham, Ali Brady, Aisling Harrington, Ciara Lee, Amy O’Carroll. Chloe O’Donovan, Lily O’Farrell, Eimear Knightly. Hannah Corcoran, Abby Murphy, Ali Roach, Lauren Murphy, Val Leahy, Laura Hill

WILTON: Ali Ashley, Grace O’Driscoll, Niamh O’Regan, Amy Gettings, Zoe Murphy, Emma O’Connor, Lydia Looney, Barbara O’Connell, Jenny Coughlan, Ava Ronan, Caitlin O’Sullivan, Catherine Cooke

Referee: Alan O’Connor.