The Ireland women’s team are ready to take on North Korea at the World University Games in Naples thanks to a 4-1 penalty shootout victory over China.
Goalkeeper Amanda McQuillan was the hero of the shootout after scoring a penalty while saving another, giving Peamount United’s Eleanor Doyle the opportunity to step up and convert the winning penalty.
It’s been a whirlwind month for Doyle who went viral after her Van Basten-esque volley against Wexford in the women’s national league followed by a two-goal brace in the win over Korea Republic.
⚽️ GOALS | Here are the goals from the first half here in Nocera between Ireland and Korea including Eleanor Ryan Doyle's double!@FAIreland @StudentSportIrl #WUG19IRL #Napoli2019 pic.twitter.com/N0LS80qkdb
— Third Level Football (@thirdlevelfootb) July 4, 2019
Her club teammate Niamh Farrelly said that the Irish team can’t fear anyone ahead of Wednesday’s semi-final.
“It’s a massive achievement for us to get this far. Your club is where you start and we’ve five Peamount United players in the squad. All of the support we’ve been given from the club has been huge and we can’t thank them enough for all of the work they’ve put in. It’s a huge honour to be over here also representing them.
“It’s been unreal to play against teams from all over the world. When you are playing underage international football, it always happens to be European teams that you come up against. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to play the likes of China, South Korea and Brazil.
“They’ve had huge results so far. We’ve heard that it’s basically their Senior team. It will be our toughest task but I think we are up for it. We’ve got great coaching staff and medical teams who will have us fit and ready to go. We’ve come so far now that I think we can’t fear any team and we’ll be ready on the day.”
Watch the highlights from the girls’s shootout here, with goalkeeper McQuillan’s the penalty of the day.
