Cork City battle back but fall short at home to Peamount
Cork City's Jesse Mendez tackles Peamount United's Sadhbh Doyle during the SSE Airtricity League Women's Premier Division tie at Turner's Cross. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
CORK City’s return to Turner’s Cross ended in a defeat to title-chasing Peamount United on Saturday evening, with Lauren Walsh blowing the game wide open with a powerful shot into the Shed End with 13 minutes left.
A first-half brace from Kate Mooney was enough to give the Dubliners the three points, but they had to dig in to make sure they got the result. That was the payoff for a game that saw Danny Murphy’s team cause a number of problems for Peamount.
This was an encouraging performance regardless, especially with this coming on the back of City getting their first point of the season, which they achieved with Laura Shine scoring in a 1-1 draw at the Market Fields at the end of March.
City clearly took confidence from this as they forced the first chance of the game, and this ended with Niamh Reid Burke stopping Lauren Singleton’s shot at the St Anne’s End. This acted as a shock to the system for Peamount, who went up to the pitch and a cross from Lauryn O’Callaghan was headed wide by Mooney.
City weren’t fazed and they broke, and that ended with Singleton shooting wide after a run down the left wing.
Peamount settled into a period of possession at this point, with City congesting themselves with eight players behind the ball. The Peas were forced to go long and their first shot, from Sadbh Doyle, rattled the crossbar. They then pushed the ball wide and the low ball across the box was tapped in by Mooney.
As City gathered themselves and tried to refocus, Doyle found Mooney inside the box and she kneed the ball from close range.
Peamount went two goals in front with just four minutes separating both of Mooney’s strikes. City immediately pushed up and Laura Shine forced an excellent save from Reid Burke. They also won a corner and Eva Mangan managed to pick out Shine, but she couldn’t keep her shot down and the ball went out for a goal-kick.
A slow second half was brought to life by Chloe Atkinson winning City a free. Mangan swung it in and it was cleared to Heidi Mackin, who passed to Walsh. Her shot beat everyone inside a chaotic era and trickled in, making it 2-1.
City had a flurry of opportunities late on, and Peamount held their ground to get the three points.
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