PEAMOUNT United’s magic eight played a huge role in returning the Gaynor Cup to Dublin as they helped the Metropolitan Girls League go all the way to the Jeremy Dee Memorial Cup crown in the University of Limerick last weekend.
It was a stunning performance for the Dublin league to retain their crown with five wins and one draw from their weekend’s work with the Peamount players contributing 17 of the 21 goals scored in total.
Lauren Kelly and Eleanor Ryan-Doyle struck two such efforts in the final decider when the Dublin representatives saw off Cork 3-0 with St Joseph’s Girls Niamh Prior also on the mark.
All three goals came in a blistering first half display by Casey McQuillan’s side and they never looked in that much trouble thereafter in a hugely efficient final performance.
It concluded a brilliant weekend of action for the representative side that featured Peamount’s Danielle Murray, Dearbhaile Beirne, Eleanor Ryan-Doyle, Gemma Berry, Lauren Kelly, Lauryn O’Callaghan, Niamh Farrelly and Lucy McCarton all playing key roles.
They started off with a strong 3-0 win in Group C when they saw off Limerick County with the Peas’ Eleanor Ryan-Doyle firing home twice with Shelbourne’s Jamie Finn grabbing the other effort.
This was followed in quick succession by a 10-0 win over Kerry with Ryan-Doyle again the key figure with a hat trick while Lauren Kelly and Dearbhaile Beirne – both also from Peamount – scoring two apiece with club mate Danielle Murray getting her first goal of the competition.
The only time their momentum was slowed was early on Saturday morning when the Midlands League held the MGL to a 1-1 draw, Lauryn O’Callaghan chipping in with the goal.
But a semi-final berth was done and dusted and they closed out Group C with a third strong win of the competition soon after when they saw off Mayo 3-0, Kelly, Beirne and Gemma Berry leading the way, all three hailing from Greenogue.
It set them up for the knockout stages with plenty of confidence and they were through to the final by virtue of Danielle Murray’s solo goal in the semi-final win over Inishowen, leading to their memorable win over Cork in the decider, returning the title to the capital.
Ryan Doyle ended the campaign as top scorer with six goals with Kelly second with four to her name.
Manager McQuillan, meanwhile, will celebrate the success of the side before looking toward his next task as manager of Raheny United, the women’s national league champions. Raheny found out their Champions League fate, grouped with Romanian, Bulgarian and Maltese opponents following this week’s draw.
