Forth in seventh heaven!
FORTH CELTIC brought home the women’s soccer Boland’s Carpets Cup in style with a hugely impressive 7-2 victory over Corach Ramblers in Sunday’s one-sided final played at the Moyne Rangers grounds.
Playing a possession-based game, the Murrintown side hardly coughed up a goalscoring opportunity from open play throughout, apart from a well-taken consolation goal from substitute Grace Donovan on 72 minutes.
Celtic dictated the tempo on their own terms, upped the ante when required, and generally took their chances whenever they arose.
While every member of the team stood up to the plate, special mention must go to Sarah Siggins, whose sheer workrate caused untold damage down Ramblers’ left side.
The eventual winners took the lead in rather fortunate circumstances on six minutes when Rianna Cullen swept to an empty net after a nasty collision between Corach’s netminder Val Redmond and one of her defenders.
A nine-minute delay followed as Redmond appeared to be knocked cold by the accidental boot to the head, and it must be said that stand-in goalkeeper Geraldine Curtis subsequently acquitted herself well in the trying circumstances.
Ramblers actually drew level against the run of play when Claire Eustace had her heels clipped in the box on 36 minutes, and Niamh Miller sent Sadbh McCarthy the wrong way from the resultant spot-kick.
That parity was shortlived however, as some trickery down the left from Emma Clarke set up Tasha Byrne-Rossiter to thump home via the framework.
And Celtic really asserted their authority in first-half injury time when an interception from Siggins allowed Megan Cahill to curl a brilliant goal in from distance and open up a 3-1 advantage at the break.
Cahill broke beyond cover five minutes into the new half only to strike the butt of the post, but Clarke tapped in the rebound from a yard out as Forth went for the jugular.
And although Donovan raced clear to confidently loft the ball over McCarthy and pull a goal back for Ramblers, Celtic proceeded to close the game out with ruthless conviction.
Siggins turned on the afterburners to tee up Clarke for an easy goal on 76 minutes, while Byrne-Rossiter completed her hat-trick before the end.
Her second goal came courtesy of a deflection after an inviting cross from the right, and she rounded off the scoring with her side’s seventh when nodding home Laura Butler’s delivery six minutes from time.
Forth Celtic: Sadbh McCarthy; Tara Hayes (capt.), Rachel Scannell, Laura Stafford; Hollie Sinnott, Megan Cahill, Niamh Tormey, Tasha Byrne-Rossiter, Rianna Cullen; Emma Clarke; Sarah Siggins. Subs. - Alanna Anglim for Hayes (HT), Laura Butler for Cahill (55), Anne Marie Kavanagh for Cullen (61), Gemma Corrigan for Clarke (76), Louisa Donnelly for Siggins (80).
Corach Ramblers: Val Redmond; Aoife White, Tracy Sinnott, Leanne McGrath, Christine Casey; Shannon McDonald, Amy Eustace, Ashling Waters, Niamh Miller; Geraldine Curtis, Claire Eustace. Subs. - Sal Eustace for Redmond, inj. (15), Grace Donovan for C. Eustace (52), Allison Gibbons for Waters (77), Jessie Egan for Miller (79).
Referee: John Carton.