Deadly Douglas Hall lift CWSSL Premier title as they target treble  

Douglas Hall 10 

Riverstown 1

Champions Douglas Hall had a very convincing victory over Riverstown in the GE Healthcare Ladies Premier League at Moneygourney.

The Hall kept their amazing league run going, they have only lost one game all season, with another top-class performance as they dominated from start to finish.

The Hall stay on course for a domestic treble and they will be thrilled at how this season is going. 

They had some excellent performances from Emma McCarthy and Lorna O’Duibhir at the back, while Clare Shine, Lauren Murphy, Maggie Duncliffe and Kara Lacey put in some fantastic performances.

Riverstown are in a battle with Macroom to avoid relegation and they really need to beat Macroom next week to avoid relegation. 

They played some good football at times but they just didn’t test the Douglas Hall defence enough over the ninety minutes. 

They did however have some notable displays from Alison O’Connell, Jess O’Leary and Faye and Lily O’Riordan.

Douglas Hall dominated the early exchanges with Maggie Duncliffe and Clare Shine combining brilliantly in midfield. 

In the sixth minute, Shine threaded a superb ball into Lily O’Keeffe but she was denied by a superb save by Sorcha Buckley.

In the 13th minute Riverstown forward Lily O’Riordan got away from two Douglas Hall defenders and the powerful player was unlucky to see her well struck shot fly inches over the crossbar.

Two minutes later Douglas Hall opened the scoring when Lauren Murphy picked out Lily O’Keeffe with a superb ball in from the right wing and O’Keeffe buried the ball to the back of the net to make it 1-0.

In the 17th minute Maeve O’Leary dinked a superb ball into Lauren Murphy who slotted then ball into the bottom corner to give her side a 2-0 lead.

Riverstown pulled a goal back in the 31st minute when Alison O’Connell threaded a great ball through to Lily O’Riordan and she hit an unstoppable rocket to the roof of the net to make it 2-1.

Three minutes later Lorna O’Duibhir scored from close range and Lauren Murphy scored an absolute screamer from thirty yards to give Douglas Hall a 4-1 advantage at the break.

The second half was all one-way traffic with Douglas Hall making a host of changes with Aoibhe Noonan making her long awaited return from injury and she really impressed in midfield.

In the 51st minute, Rebekah Grant scored a cracker from the edge of the box to make it 5-1 and two minutes later Maeve O’Leary delivered a superb ball into Grant who curled the ball to the roof of the net to give her side a commanding 6-1 lead.

In the space of three minutes Kara Lacey scored twice from the penalty spot and in the 77th minute Emma Davis scored her first senior goal with a nice finish from close range to make it 9-1.

In the 87th minute, Kara Lacey completed her hat-trick to give Douglas Hall a convincing 10-1 victory. 

The CWSSL PRO John McHale presented the league trophy to Douglas Hall captain Emma McCarthy after the full-time whistle as they now turn their attentions to the two local finals where they will face Leeside and Lakewood Athletic.

Douglas Hall: Chloe O’Callaghan, Lorna O’Duibhir, Hayley Dewick, Emma McCarthy, Tiff Taylor, Maggie Duncliffe, Maeve O’Leary, Clare Shine, Lauren Murphy, Lily O’Keeffe, Rebekah Grant, Sarah Dawe, Hollie Bruton, Kara Lacey, Aoibhe Noonan, Sarah O’Keeffe, Emma Davis, Mary O’Sullivan, Mazel Caulfield.

Riverstown: Sorcha Buckley, Sarah Costello, Emma Kerins, Aoife O’Neil, Katie O’Gorman, Ellen Baker, Jess O’Leray, Alison O’Connell, Faye O’Riordan, Lily O’Riordan, Alannah Lynch O’Kelly, Faye Lonergan, Siofra Boyle, Una Watkins, Luey Moriarty, Emma Cotter, Roisin Cahill.