Ladies 1sts match roundup

The Ladies 1sts faced Railway and Corinthians earlier this week:

Railway 3 Pembroke 1
On Saturday last, the Ladies 1s faced another tough test against Railway. Given Railway’s recent run of 3 games in 7 days, they fancied their chances of an upset. As usual, Pembroke started off fast and furious holding off an early attack from Railway to open the scoring in the opening five minutes with a goal from Katie O’Byrne who tapped in a pass from Maebh Horan.

Maebh Horan

Unfortunately, they did not stay in front for too long with Railway equalizing later in the first half. Railway continued to be frustrated by the Pembroke’s fluid passing and incredible work rate which was reflected in the score line of 1-1 at half time.

Pembroke started the second half positively keeping the work rate from the first half up and maintaining a high tempo. Both sides had their share of chances as second half progressed with the Pembroke defense working well together to keep the score at 1-1 until the 60th minute when Railway were rewarded for their continued pressure with a quick free resulting in a 2 v 1 with the keeper which they capitalized on. Despite being 2-1 down, Pembroke battled on showing character by continuing to attack and put Railway under pressure.

A good save from Railway keeper prevented Pembroke from coming right back to equalize. Railway continued to threaten as the game drew to a close, winning a short corner in the closing minutes which was cleverly worked resulting in a third goal to put an end to Pembroke’s chances of nicking a point from the tie. Despite the result, Pembroke can take a lot of positives from the game where in periods they showed their potential with some excellent spells of passing and some impressive attacking moves.

Pembroke v Corinthians 1-1

A spirited performance from Pembroke ensured honours even in their game against Corinthians at Serpentine on Monday night, though the players will possibly look back and rue the opportunity to have taken full points with both teams having late opportunities to win the game. During a muted first-half of which they had the better, Sorcha Clarke first went close for Pembroke, her powerful shot deflected away by the Corinthians keeper, before Maebh Horan drew first blood (and in the process bumped herself up to sixth on the nerd table, I wonder does she still want to get rid of it?), clinically dispatching the team’s sole corner of the game from the left of the circle.

Corinthians however, regrouped at half-time, and, leading from the front, increased the pressure on Pembroke with a series of corners during the second half. After being penalised for a ‘deliberate’ back-stick inside the 25, Corinthians were afforded a short corner, with the resultant dissent over the decision leading to a team yellow card taken on by Claire Mulcahy . The subsequent set-piece was turned in by Aine Connery, her perfectly angled shot wrong-footing Anna O’Connell for an unstoppable equaliser.

Once returned to their full complement of eleven, and backed by cacophonous support from the baclcony, Pembroke rallied, with two chances to regain the lead falling to Clarke, the first intercepted by the Corinthians keeper, and the second a shot from an incisive Sophie Marshall pass. The stalemate remained however, with Corinthians seeing a final chance, an Aine Connery touch from a disputed corner, sneak just past the far post. Pembroke, though perhaps disappointed after a battling showing, will take a lot of positives going into the game against Glennane on Saturday, and look forward to Keith or Chris volunteering to take the extra umpiring game Claire Mul has accrued due to their dissent during the game, as well as finding out the root cause of the perplexing pre-match bruising on show by Scotty beforehand.

The girls face Glenanne this weekend in the league, and Corinthians the following weekend in the Irish Senior Cup.