A United effort falls short

Cliftonville Ladies 0-1 Galway United

There was Avenir Sports All-Island Cup Final heartache for Cliftonville Ladies at the Sligo Showgrounds this afternoon after an early goal proved enough for Galway United to take the inaugural crown.

Despite a strong finish to the first-half and a dominant display after the break, the Reds were unable to fashion a route through a fine defensive display from their opponents.

After Toni-Leigh Finnegan had sent a free-kick wide of the park, the only goal of the game came when Gemma McGuinness seized upon a clearance to loft an inch-perfect finish over goalkeeper Rachael Norney.

Amid a cagey start from Cliftonville, Lynsey McKee came within a whisker of doubling United’s advantage before Vicky Carleton was off target at the other end.

The Reds felt they should have had a penalty when Danielle Maxwell’s delivery into the box appeared to be charged down by the arm of a defender while, just before the break, Caitlin McGuinness was unable to inflict maximum punishment after winning the ball from goalkeeper Jessica Berlin.

The second-half was virtually one-way traffic throughout but Galway’s backline, superbly marshalled by Isabella Beletic, refused to buckle and, indeed, the American central defender’s superb lunging challenge on Kirsty McGuinness prevented what looked like a certain equaliser, while Hannah Doherty’s drive from range was well fielded by the keeper.

As the clock ticked down, however, the Reds found openings more and more difficult to come by as Galway protected their slender lead until the final blast of referee Robert Dowling’s whistle.