Shelbourne booked their place in the Sports Direct Women's FAI Cup final with an emphatic win over Cork City in the first of this weekends semi-finals.
Kate Mooney had opened the scoring before Noelle Murray added a brace, with Christie Gray and Megan Smyth-Lynch putting the icing on the cake with two stunning strikes each as the double-chasing hosts made it four wins over the Leesiders this season as they earned their place at the showpiece on 20 October.
The Rebel Army, although winless in their last six, had a confidence-boosting clean sheet against Wexford last week and tried their best to carry on their impressive defensive resolve into this as the dominant home side set their stall out from the first whistle.
Both Leah Doyle and Maggie Pierce looked threatening out wide, whilE Murray and Roma McLoughlin picked up dangerous pockets of space.
But as the half wore on, and with New Zealand stopper Una Foyle relatively untested, the visitors grew in confidence.
Colleen Kennedy was tireless on the righthand side and skipper Eva Mangan began to get on the ball more, having a powerful effort well blocked.
Just after the half hour mark the cat was almost thrown amongst the pigeons when Mangan played a delicious around-the-corner pass to Rebekah Cassin, who showed great pace to get in behind the Pearl Slattery-less Shels defence, but she dragged her shot agonisingly wide.
This served as a wake-up call to the home side as Gray went straight down the other end and teed up the in-form Mooney to open the scoring from close range.
Shels sensed blood and doubled their lead minutes later. Having had a penalty shout turned down seconds before, Murray was again brought down clumsily in the area as Freya de Mange came through the back of the attacker.
Murray dusted herself down and took responsibility, sending the helpless Foyle the wrong way to make it 2-0 from the spot.
Danny Murphy’s half-time team talk was undone within seconds of the restart as the majestic Murray was on hand to smash home from another Christie Gray cut-back to all but ensure their passage to the final.
Player-of-the-match Grey then got in on the act with a goal her outstanding performance deserved as she collected a long ball, before cutting inside and curling an unstoppable effort into the top corner with her left.
With the result done and dusted, both sides emptied their respective benches as the gulf in class proved just too much on the day.
There was still time for substitute Megan Smyth-Lynch to add a fifth with a thunderous left-footed free kick as Shelbourne quest for the double continues knowing they can look forward to their third FAI Cup appearance in a row come next month.
Shelbourne: Amanda McQuilan, Keeva Keenan (Megan Smyth-Lynch, 61’), Nia Hannon, Leah Doyle, Rachel Graham (Alex Kavanagh, 61’), Noelle Murray, Roma McLoughlin (Rebecca Devereux, 80’) Jess Gargan, Maggie Pierce, Christie Gray (Lucy O’Rourke, 72’), Kate Mooney (Hanna Healy, 72’)
Subs not used: Caoimhe Magee, Jemma Quinn, Mia Dodd, Katie McCarn
Cork City: Una Foyle, Heidi Mackin (Shaunagh McCarthy, 56’), Orlaith O’Mahony, Eva Mangan (Kiera Sena, 56’), Freya De Mange, Niamh Cotter, Barrett Edison (Chloe Atkinson, 70’), Colleen Kennedy (Lauren Egbuloniu, 70’), Dorothea Greulich (Aoibhin Donnelly, 70’), Alix Mendez, Becky Cassin
Subs not used: Clodagh Fitzgerald, Ciara McCarthy, Jesse Mendez, Christina Dring
Referee: Daryl Carolan
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