Late Gibbons rockets dumps out champs
Manulla players in jubilant mood at the final whistle of the Connacht Women’s Cup semi-final in Manulla last Sunday. Picture: David Farrell Photography
Under the circumstances, Manulla would have taken a tap in but the strike by Katie Gibbons in the 89th minute to send her side into a third straight Connacht Women’s Cup final is as good as you will see.
Her bullet from the edge of the penalty area sent the defending champions Salthill Devon packing and helped gain a modicum of revenge for the Mayo league and cup champions after losing to Salthill in last year’s final.
It was no more than Manulla deserved in the end, who were without the pairing of Sadhbh Larkin and Tracey Hall. The centre back duo, Stacey Freyne and Emma Cosgrave, rarely put a foot wrong. Captain Aoife Freyne led by example in the middle of the field alongside Gibbons while Lauren McLellan and Niamh Flannery pressed and harried the Salthill backline into the ground.
“The minute it left (Aoife’s) boot, you knew it was going in. In the end, I think we deserved it. The hard work paid off in the end,” said Aoife Freyne.
“At half-time, we remembered how it felt leaving Headford last year after we lost to Salthill and we didn’t want that feeling going off the pitch today. We gave it everything and we went out the second half a different team.
“The likes of Lauren, Niamh and Katie were outstanding. Everyone ran themselves into the ground and there was a great save from Lisa in the end to keep us in it.
“We were missing a few very big starting players who would play every single week but the girls who came up were unbelievable. We’ll all be fighting for a place in the final.”
Those flashbacks from last year will have come to the fore when Salthill’s opener arrived inside three minutes as Alannah McNeil’s cross from the right took a wicked deflection and it left Daisy O’Connell with the simplest of tap-ins.
Manulla saw plenty of the ball in the first half but it was Salthill who were creating the best opportunities, with Anna Fahey going close on 19 minutes as she tried to lift it over the oncoming Manulla goalkeeper Lisa Nally only to see the shot go wide of the post.
The hosts best chance of the half arrived on 38 minutes after Lauren McLellan won possession inside the Salthill half and released Niamh Flannery but her shot did not trouble the Salthill goalkeeper.
The threat from Manulla was more apparent second half. McLellan’s brilliant free-kick on 48 minutes was asking for even the faintest of touches but no Manulla player could make contact. Another excellent delivery from McLellan had the Salthill goalkeeper backpedaling to punch away. It only went as far as Niamh Flannery but her effort went wide.
The relentless pressure from Manulla finally told on 71 minutes when Stacey Freyne’s corner found Flannery and she bundled in from close range for the equaliser.
Manulla continued to surge forward, with McLellan going close with a header, and the winner arrived in the final minute of normal time in style. Niamh Flannery’s cross was punched clear but only as far as Katie Gibbons and she arrowed her first time strike from outside the penalty area into the roof of the net.
Salthill created very little in the second half but they had a chance to take it to extra-time only for Lisa Nally to deny Kaelah Tobin.
Manulla will now meet Corrib Celtic, who defeated Swinford in the other semi-final, in the Connacht final on April 7. Headford will be the venue again but for Aoife Freyne and the rest of her Manulla teammates, it’s a chance to exercise some demons.
“Confidence will be high but we won’t take anything for granted against Corrib. We played them before up there in a Connacht semi-final. It was a battle to say the least but we’ll be going out fighting and hopefully have a full squad that day.”
