Goals from Lydia Looney and Barbara O’Connell help Wilton United land FAI trophy

Wilton United are the FAI Women's Amateur Shield champions after they defeated St Pat's CY 3-0 in the final at Two-Mile Borris, Tipperary.

A brace from Lydia Looney and one goal from Barbara O’Connell was the difference as one of the most storied clubs in Cork soccer gained a new chapter on Saturday afternoon.

The end result finishes off a campaign that saw memorable results against Lakewood Athletic, Kilkerrin United, Douglas Hall, and Glenthorn Celtic.

The victory also comes after the club had to face disappointment in three separate competitions. The Hall were largely responsible for that as they won the Premier Division title and they beat Wilton in the semi-finals of the Ladies Steve Quinn Cup. 

Things got worse in the Munster FA Junior Cup final, as Wilton lost to Dungarvan at Carrig Park in Fermoy.

All of this manifested in a near-perfect performance from the team based on the Lee Road, and that started with Sophie Hurley sending a through ball to Looney.

It was route one football at its finest as she collected the pass and finished neatly passed the St Patrick’s goalkeeper.

O’Connell got the second goal with an unstoppable header and Liz O’Connor set up Looney to roll the ball in and make it 3-0.

Louis Nolan was the manager behind the cup success and he was lost for words when looking back on Wilton’s victory.

“Just to get the trophy in at the end of the day and the performance the girls put in and the season they put down was phenomenal,” he said.

“The work they put in behind the scenes with training and the togetherness in the group was phenomenal all season. To get a cherry on top at the end of it was nice.” 

What made this sweeter for the manager and his players was how the season played out, and having to deal with the heartbreak of losing out on other trophies during the year.

“There was a couple of disappointments along the way,” he looked back on the last few months.

“It was my first season in there and we had our own goals with the management team for where we wanted to be. 

"We always said that if we got a trophy it would be a bonus. 

It was just about getting things back on track and getting the girls back enjoying football and seeing where that would take us.” 

That was all the way to a national cup final, and Wilton navigated a tense first half before scoring three goals against St Pat's.

“The first half was tight enough,” he looked back. “It was a pretty cagey affair. We got them in at half-time and told them to start playing their game and to play football. We had a game plan in place and we hadn’t really implemented it.

“Half time changed things. We had a chat and changed one or two things. Things just seemed to open up in the second half and fall in our favour.”