Ruthless Cork ladies footballers make short work of Donegal

Cork 5-11

Donegal 0-1

CORK cruised to their second win in the Lidl NFL as they were far too strong for Donegal in their clash at Mallow on Sunday.

Early goals from Libby Coppinger, Orlaith Cahalane and Rachel Leahy put Cork on their way to victory and they never looked back from here.

The Rebels completely dominated and such was their superiority it allowed manager Shane Ronayne to make 14 subs in the second-half, with Eimear Meaney the only player to start and finish for the home side.

Cork took the lead three minutes in when Eimear Kiely raised a white flag as the home side were dominating, despite playing against the strong wind.

Just three minutes later and they got the opening goal, when Katie Quirke and Ciara O’Sullivan combined to put Libby Coppinger through to find the back of the net.

Donegal got off the mark when Ciara McGarvey pointed, to make it 1-1 to 0-1 with seven minutes gone.

It didn’t take long for Cork to raise another green flag thanks to Roisin Phelan.

The corner-back intercepted a Donegal pass and burst forward out of defence, playing a great ball to Quirke.

She rounded several defenders before slipping the ball to Orlaith Cahalane who had an empty net to shoot at.

It got even worse for Donegal a minute later when a long shot in from Rachel Leahy deceived their keeper to raise Cork’s third green flag.

Kiely added a point and with 15 minutes gone, it was not looking good for the visitors, as they trailed by 3-3 to 0-1.

Two from Quirke increased Cork’s lead before Donegal had Evelyn McGinley to thank as her last-second block on Kiely denied her what looked like a certain goal.

Coppinger got her second point with 22 minutes played and this was the last score of the half as Cork were well in control, leading by 3-6 to 0-1 at half-time.

Three minutes into the second half and any chance of a Donegal comeback were well and truly over as by then Cork had added two more goals.

The first saw Coppinger raise her second green flag, which was quickly followed by Leahy’s second also, to make it 5-6 to 0-1 and it was game over at this stage.

Ellie Jack and Sadbh McGoldrick added points for Cork before Donegal finished with 14 as Nicole McLaughlin was sin-binned with five minutes to go.

Abigail Ring added a late point from a free as Cork got back to winning ways and Donegal have yet to win a game this season.

Scorers for Cork: L Coppinger 2-2, O Cahalane 1-0, R Leahy 2-0, K Quirke (1f), E Kiely O-2 each, E Jack, A O’Mahony, S McGoldrick, A Ring, E Twomey 0-1 each.

Donegal: C McGarvey C McGarvey 0-1.

CORK: M O’Sullivan; M Duggan, E Meaney, R Phelan; S Kelly, A Healy, R Leahy; H Looney, S Leahy; L Coppinger, K Quirke, E Cleary; O Cahalane, E Kiely, C O’Sullivan.

Subs: A O’Mahony for L Coppinger, M O’Callaghan for H Looney, E Jack for O Cahalane (all 35), D Kiniry for M Duggan, S Murphy for M O’Sullivan, B O’Sullivan for K Quirke (all 41), S McGoldrick for A Healy, A Ring for C O’Sullivan ( both 47), A McDonagh for S Leahy, L McDonagh for E Kiely (both 49), E Twomey for R Phelan, K Redmond for S Kelly, I Sheehan for R Leahy, R Corkery for E Cleary (all 55).

DONEGAL: A McColgan; A Temple Asoko, E McGinley, E Gallagher; C Keon, N McLaughlin, T Hegarty; S Twohig, L Ryan; K Long, C Gillespie, K Dowds; J McFadden, S McGroddy, C McGarvey.

Subs: S McFeeley for L Ryan, K Herron for K Long (both ht), N Carr for S McGroddy, A O’Connell for K Dowds, R Rodgers for E McGinley, S White for C Keon (all 41), C Friel for A McColgan (52), K O’Donoghue for T Hegarthy (55).

Referee: Kevin Corcoran, Mayo.