Dundalk FC Ladies 2-0 Quay Celtic

Dundalk Ladies got off to a winning start on Monday night as they beat Quay Celtic 2-0 in the opening fixture of the NEFL Women’s North Division at Oriel Park.

As well as being a local derby, the game was the first competitive fixture between the two sides and it was the Point Road team who controlled the game in the early stages.

A youthful Dundalk side grew into the match after that and created a couple of scoring opportunities, most notably from Katie Brophy whose effort from a free-kick was well saved by the Quay goalkeeper.

On the stroke of halftime, the goalkeeper came to Quay’s rescue again as a through ball to Caoimhe Crichton was well saved and the sides went in level at the break.

After a change in formation, Dundalk grew into the game in the second half and started creating more opportunities. On the hour mark, they were awarded a corner kick and an excellent delivery was met by Sarah McHugh who scrambled the ball over the line to make it 1-0.

That one-goal margin remained until the final minutes when, after some fine passing through midfield, Caoimhe Mulholland got the goal she deserved when she broke clean through on goal and doubled Dundalk’s advantage.

Quay failed to mount a late comeback and Eddie Conroy’s side took all three points to get the new season off to a perfect start.

DUNDALK FC LADIES: Kerry Ann Darcy, Aoife Byrne, Emily Johnson, Rebecca Lambe Fagan, Stephanie Cunningham, Sarah McHugh, Louise Johnson, Katie Moran, Caoimhe Crichton, Caoimhe Mulholland, Katie Brophy, Dayna Ferguson, Hannah Sheerin, Ailbhe Ford, Shauna Ward Rice, Rachel Mullen.