Clinical Corcorcan fires Willow women into last eight
LFA Women’s Junior Cup Third Round
St Ita’s 3 Willow Park 7
Willow Park advanced to the quarter-finals of the LFA Women’s Junior Cup by virtue of a 7-3 away win over St Ita’s in Ballymastone on Sunday last.
A delayed kick-off fueled an eager Willow Park group of players who came out with fire in their bellies ready to play. And Ciara Corcoran found the St Ita's net with a bullet of a header on 16 minutes.
But Willow were then caught napping as St Ita's equalised and then went ahead within a matter of minutes, leaving Willow Park looking caught cold on their feet.
Corcoran took it upon herself to pull the Willow ladies together and levelled matters at 2-2. Shen then scored off a rebound from a penalty to complete her hat-trick, leaving it 3-2 in favour of the Athlone outfit at half-time.
The second half started with a fourth goal from Corcoran who was on fire, picking up where she left off in the first half.
Emma McGrath then popped up on her debut with a class finish, making it 5-2 with just ten minutes gone in the second period.
Sharon Mannion made it 6-2 with a beautiful strike. Mannion then finished the game as a contest when making it 7-2 with a wonderful chip over the St Ita's goalkeeper.
St Ita's pulled one more back when the Dublin side took advantage of a momentary lapse in concentration from Willow.
Overall, this was an enjoyable game played at a high tempo but Willow could have easily scored a couple of more goals.
Although Ciara Corcoran stole the show with four goals, Ciara McManus was also a strong player of the match contender as she dominated the centre of the park and was instrumental in guiding Willow to an impressive win.
And with fine debut performances from Emma McGrath, Rachel Rourke and Leesha McHale, Willow Park can look forward to a home tie in the quarter-finals of this competition. The manager of the Willow Park team is Jenny Madden, who is assisted by Gina Dowling.
What's next: Willow Park are at home to Killester Donnycarney in their quarter-final which is due to be played in DPD Park, Athlone within the next couple of weeks.
Willow Park: Noreen Devery, Anna Grant (captain), Ciara Dunne, Ashley Hellenbrand, Aoife Connolly, Ciara McManus, Ciara Corcoran, Siva Maloussa, Nicole Kelly, Savannah Cassidy, Emma McGrath. Subs used: Rachel Emerson, Hannah Martin, Rachel Rourke, Leesha McHale, Sharon Mannion. Subs not used: Dara Hughes, Erin Pender.