Back for Mor

Fi Morgan earned her second senior international cap when she played all 90 minutes of Northern Ireland Women’s World Cup qualifier with Turkiye in Istanbul this evening.

Cliftonville team-mate Danielle Maxwell was introduced as a half-time substitute at Siltas Yapi Pendik Stadyumu, where the visitors fell to a 2-1 defeat in controversial circumstances – with Morgan taking a central role in the contest’s biggest talking point.

Trailing to a Melike Pekel effort, Northern Ireland drew level just before half-time when Morgan directed the ball goalward only to be denied by the outstretched hand of Busem Seker, who was bizarrely only yellow carded for the offence.

Though Megan Bell netted the resulting penalty, Michael McArdle’s side entered the break frustrated by a sense of injustice that was only heightened when Seker inevitably struck Turkiye’s winner.

Maxwell – whose fellow Reds Kelsie Burrows and Maddy Harvey-Clifford were unused substitutes – went close to equalising right at the finish and the away side will be keen to channel tonight’s disappointment positively when they complete their Group B2 campaign against Switzerland at Mourneview Park on Tuesday.