Ireland internationals Katie McCabe and Louise Quinn are Women’s Super League Champions as Arsenal ended a seven-year title drought with a 4-0 win over Brighton at the Amex Stadium yesterday.
Ex-Shelbourne player McCabe was among the goals, neatly finishing a superb move for Arsenal’s second, with Dutch striker Vivianne Miedema the provider. Miedema had earlier opened the scoring with a thunderous shot past Marie Hourihan, another Ireland international.
Cork woman Megan Connolly was also in the Brighton side, but it was the Irish pair’s day, with Beth Mead and Danielle Van De Donk completing the rout in front of a record crowd of 5,265.
“A feeling I can’t describe right now!! CHAMPIONS,” tweeted centre-half Quinn afterwards, with Arsenal wrapping up the title with a game to spare. But manager Joe Montemurro was already looking to next season.
He told the Arsenal website: “The Champions League is the big one and we want to be up there in the upper echelons of European football. We need to be at the best against the best, winning leagues every year. We need to improve because women’s football is improving.
“The game is growing at a rapid rate and we’ve got a World Cup coming around the corner. It’s great football and it’s great to watch. All these athletes, these players, at every club, deserve everything they get. They do an amazing job and today was an amazing showcase.
“The goal that I really loved was our second, Katie McCabe’s. There was a good build-up and we made the space for her to get into and produce a great finish.“