Just three Republic of Ireland players started for their clubs on the opening weekend of the English Women’s Super League season, the happiest of them, undoubtedly, Courtney Brosnan and Katie McCabe after both Everton and Arsenal began their campaigns with 4-1 wins.
Everton maintained their remarkable record over their beloved neighbours Liverpool – they’ve now beaten them on each of the six occasions they’ve played them at Anfield.
Brosnan, in her fifth season with the club, could do nothing about Cornelia Kapocs’ opener for Liverpool, but thereafter it was largely the Ornella Vignola show. The young Spaniard, who joined Everton during the summer, became the first player, male or female, to score a hat-trick for the club in the Merseyside derby since Dixie Dean in September 1931.
McCabe’s Arsenal came from behind at the Emirates to see off minted WSL newcomers London City Lionesses, bankrolled by billionaire American businesswoman Michele Kang, the only stand-alone women’s club in the top flight.
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Curiously, though, the 38,000 attendance at the Emirates was down on Arsenal’s opening game there last season, while the crowd of 11,904 was the lowest ever for a Merseyside derby at Anfield.
A significantly smaller crowd also watched seven-in-a-row-seeking Chelsea beat Manchester City 2-1 at Stamford Bridge on Friday, compared to the corresponding fixture last season, England’s European Championship summer success having no knock-on effect just yet.
Aston Villa’s Anna Patten was the other Irish WSL starter in their 0-0 draw with Brighton, for whom Caitlin Hayes was an unused sub, while Heather Payne came on to make her debut for Leicester in their 4-0 defeat by Manchester City.
Meanwhile, goalkeeper Megan Walsh made her first WSL appearance since December 2023 when she replaced West Ham’s Kinga Szemik after the Polish international picked up an ankle injury in West Ham’s 1-0 loss to Spurs.
[ Low Irish representation in Women’s Super League is no bad thing for Carla WardOpens in new window ]
In the WSL2, Izzy Atkinson marked her debut for Sunderland with their opening goal in a 4-0 win away to Sheffield United, Grace Moloney, Marissa Sheva and Jamie Finn also featuring for the winners, while Emily Murphy scored for Newcastle, for whom Aoife Mannion made her debut, in their 2-1 win away to a Nottingham Forest side that featured Jessie Stapleton and Chloe Mustaki.
Up in Scotland, Donegal’s own Erin McLaughlin scored in Glasgow City’s 5-0 win over Montrose, while over in Italy, Megan Connolly was part of a Lazio defence that kept a clean sheet against Juventus in their cup tie, Lazio winning the game with an injury-time goal.
