Peas quartet soar in opening Euro tie

PEAMOUNT United’s Niamh Farrelly and Lucy McCartan were both part of the Republic of Ireland Under-19 side’s starting line-up as they started their European championship qualifying campaign with a comfortable 10-0 win over hosts Macedonia.
They were joined in the panel by club mates Naoisha McAloon and Roma McLaughlin. Leanne Kiernan netted four times, while Niamh Prior and Alex Kavanagh got two apiece, and Jamie Finn and Eleanor Ryan-Doyle scored one each on a hot Tuesday afternoon.
The side go on to meet Wales before completing their initial group of the European championships qualifying campaign, looking to breach the top two to advance.
With 23 attempts on target, Ireland completely dominated their first game in Group 2, where they occupy top spot alongside Italy who overcame Wales 6-0, and the performance pleased head coach Dave Connell.
Yet, the experienced Connell is not one to get carried away after one result as he knows there is still room for improvement and that momentum will be crucial ahead of Thursday’s clash with Wales.
“We were expected to win by some onlookers but the manner in which we went about our performance was particularly pleasing.
“The aim was to come away the three points and we did that in a convincing manner,” said Connell.
“We’ll now work on our recovery and look ahead to the Wales game which is coming up very quickly.”
Connell paid tribute to the development of the Continental Tyres Women’s National League with nine of the 10 goals coming from players currently playing in the league, while Finn previously lined out for Raheny United and Shelbourne Ladies.
“The Women’s National League has been a huge help to myself and to the players.
“I deal with the coaches and clubs across the country on a regular basis and the culmination of the girls playing tougher games on a regular basis is the improvement in the standard,” he said.
“We still have a long way to go but the progression has been encouraging.”
Leading 4-0 at half-time, Ireland were never going to loosen their grip on this game.