Angela Hearst glory for five-star Waterford Women
Waterford players, including captain Lisa Power, centre, lift the cup after their side's victory in the FAI Women’s Angela Hearst Inter-League Cup final match between Waterford Women's & Schoolgirls League and Wexford District Women’s & Schoolgirls League at the Regional Sports Centre in Waterford. Photo by Shauna Clinton/Sportsfile
A five-star display from Waterford District Women & Schoolgirls League saw them beat Wexford District Women & Schoolgirls League 5-1 to lift the FAI Angela Hearst Inter-League Cup for the first time.
Played at the RSC, this Final did not disappoint with Player of the Match Lisa Dower getting to raise the trophy after leading her team to a deserved victory.
First-half goals from Nicole Bennett (2), Becky Conroy (2) and Rachel Hutchinson put Waterford in control and even a late finish from Liz Evered was not going to stop them.
Tommy Butler's team raced into the lead after just four minutes when Conroy outmuscled her opponent before driving a low right-footed shot into the back of the net.
Bennett netted her second of the game on 14 minutes after reacting quickest to meet a cross from Shauna Wall with a perfectly-placed header.
Waterford's clinical finishing saw them score their third goal on 27 minutes when Conroy fired in from inside the edge of the penalty area following good work from Kerry Ann Hamilton and Bennett.
Hutchinson made it 4-0 on 40 minutes with a long-range free-kick before Conroy scored a superb goal just before the interval with a brilliant strike from 35 yards out.
Wexford, to their credit, never gave up and got a goal that their performance merited when substitute Evered poked in a shot on 87 minutes.
On what was the 10th anniversary of this competition and with members of the Hearst family in attendance, Waterford showed their class to become just the seventh different team to win the trophy.
Sally Kelly; Saoirse O'Brien, Laura Stafford, Shauna Wall (Kaylynn Broxan 76), Katie Hannon; Eimear Fennell (Ella Brennan 81), Rachel Hutchinson (Emily O'Reilly 84), Nicole Bennett (Leah O'Donoghue 55), Lisa Dower; Becky Conroy; Kerry Ann Hamilton (Mary Kate Morrissey 68).
Ella Crotty; Ali Evered, Sarah Figgis, Mary Dywer, Leah Walsh (Liz Evered 87); Shannon Maguire, Niamh Kelly, Hayley Nolan, Emma Clarke; Sinead Ryan, Leona Breen.
Klaudia Pawula.
