A sensational Saoirse Noonan hat-trick sees Celtic FC Women advance to the final of Round One of the UEFA Women’s Champions League after a hard fought but well deserved 3-1 victory over Finland’s Champions KuPS…
It was a good start to the match for the Celts as they looked to fashion some early chances. Hana Kerner and Lucy Ashworth-Clifford were putting in shifts on the right and left respectively, desperately trying to carve out a goal in the opening stages.
But it was KuPS who took the lead in the 18th minute with a well struck shot that evaded Kelsey Daugherty in the Celtic goals.
Elena Sadiku’s side kept searching for an equaliser but by the break, it wasn’t to be. Until Ireland’s finest Saoirse Noonan came off the bench on the hour mark and proved to be a spectacular game changer for Celtic FC Women.
After having been on the pitch for just a few minutes, the forward headed home from close range to level the score. Celtic kept pushing from there to finish the game in the 90 minutes but although Kerner, Caitlin Hayes and Noonan came close, it was still level at the full-time whistle.
As the game got underway in extra time, Celtic immediately found a breakthrough. Some incredible play from Kit Loferski had the ball end up with Noonan, and she made no mistake in putting her side ahead. And just six minutes later, she secured her first hat-trick in the Hoops and gave the Celts a two-goal advantage with a powerful shot into the top corner.
Daugherty did well to prevent KuPS from pulling one back on one occasion and a Hayes header almost put the game out of sight in the closing stages. But ultimately, three goals from our summer signing were good enough as Elena Sadiku’s side progress to the final of Round One.
Speaking to The Celtic Star after the game, Elena Sadiku said: “I’m very pleased. We came here to win and the first game is done.
“We’re very happy with how we took control of the game. We maybe didn’t start the best but we still had possession, we tried to break through, we tried to cross, we tried to attack. We had a lot of corners today which shows how offensive we were. And then second half, doing the changes and the impact of the changes. Then in extra time, we knew they were tired, so we just kept going. And it gave the effect that I wanted us to have and very happy with the result.
“These games are something that you always need to plan for but if I was planning for [extra time], I don’t know. You just need to adapt to the situation during the game and I think that was something that we did really well.
“With new players coming in, it takes a bit of time to adapt sometimes. [Noonan] did exactly what I want her to do for our team, and that’s being in the box and being close to the situations and her scoring a hat-trick in the Champions League, what a way of doing it, so very happy for her.
“And with Kit [Loferski] coming in and helping her, opening up the space and doing the runs, that was also a great impact for the team.”
Hat-trick hero Saoirse Noonan also spoke to The Celtic Star after the victory in Lithuania. She said: “It was a huge day. I was speaking to my family beforehand and they just said enjoy the occasion. I’m gutted they’re not here but my dad texted me saying he couldn’t stop crying today so that was nice to see.
“Just to play for this club is big enough as it is. Then to come on and make an impact in the Champions League is huge. Scoring is the icing on the cake.
“It’s a quick turnover again. It’s a short few days where we have to recover and focus on the next game. It’s going to be huge and we know how important it is now. We just have to carry our performance from today into that and probably use everyone, because like I said, it’s a quick turnover. Everyone’s quite excited now and we just showed what we could do with coming from behind.”
More on Celtic’s next challenge to follow but for now we can all enjoy Celtic coming from behind to ultimately be comfortable winners in this first match in the UWCL this season.
COYGIG!
Jessica Elliott
