Galway advance after penalty drama

Galway United will face the winner of Cliftonville versus Cork City in next week’s Avenir All-Island Cup final after defeating Wexford Youths on penalties after a 1-1 draw in Ferrycarrig Park this afternoon.

The Youths were the first team to go in search of an opening goal in the first half, Rianna Jarrett firing wide from a difficult angle with her less accomplished foot. She was then called back for offside as she was baring down on goal moments later.

Galway settled into the game then and got control of the ball, keeping their shape, and dictating the tempo of the play.

For the majority of the first half, both sides cancelled each other out with no real clear-cut chances created in either box.

That changed with around ten minutes to go before the interval when several openings were created by both teams, first Wexford hit the post and the follow-up caused chaos in the box with a series of blocks and clearances preventing the Youths from scoring.

Then Jessica Berlin was called into action to save at the feet of a Wexford attacker before Abbie Brophy failed to capitalise on a perfectly measured square pass by Emily Corbet and shot wide of the post.

The Tribeswomen thought they had taken the lead in injury time of the first half, but the goal was called back for an offside by the fourth official to keep the team’s level at the break.

The opening goal came soon after the restart, a long bouncing ball caused some hesitation in the Galway box and Kylie Murphy stole in to take the ball and find Jarrett who duly smashed the ball into the back of the net.

Just as it looked like the Youths were in control and would see the game out, Jenna Slattery played a beautiful first-time pass behind the Wexford defence and Kate Thompson calmly lifted it over the on-rushing Keenan to level the tie.

United wasted a host of chances to win the game in normal time but were either denied by Kennan in the Wexford goal or by some poor execution.

The match went to penalties to separate the two teams and it was Gemma McGuinness who scored the deciding spot kick.

Rianna Jarrett scored first for Wexford, then Therese Kinnevey tucked hers away for Galway, the defender had put in an excellent performance during normal time.

Kylie Murphy and Kate Thompson both had their penalties saved before Nicola Sinnott and Jamie Erickson scored to make it 2-2.

Aoibheann Clancy and Jenna Slattery scored before Ciara Rossiter stepped up to take Galway’s fifth and duly sent the ball over the bar. It came down to Gemma McGuinness to be the hero on the day and the forward squeezed the ball past Claudia Keenan to the delight of the Galway fans.