There aren’t many members of Vera Pauw’s Republic of Ireland squad who’ve had worse luck on the injury front than Ruesha Littlejohn, so the sight of her hobbling out of Aston Villa’s Women’s Super League game on Sunday with a heavily strapped knee, just five minutes after coming on as a substitute, was a bleak one.
The midfielder, who has 69 caps for Ireland, had only recently returned to action after being plagued by a string of injuries over the past few months, starting with the broken foot she sustained in the win over Finland in Tallaght last September. Villa have yet to comment on her condition, but Pauw will be desperate for a positive update.
On a decidedly more positive note for the manager, Aoife Mannion made her first WSL appearance for Manchester United since the cruciate ligament injury she sustained a year ago. The defender, who made her Ireland debut against China last month, came on as a sub in United’s 1-0 defeat away to Chelsea.
Heartening too was all three of Pauw’s most regularly chosen goalkeepers starting for their WSL clubs on Sunday, a rare enough occurrence after they lost their places at various stages of the campaign.
Courtney Brosnan kept a clean sheet in Everton’s scoreless draw away to Leicester, Megan Walsh (and Megan Connolly) endured the heartache of an 89th-minute winner for Manchester City, at the end of a week when relegation-threatened Brighton parted company with manager Jens Scheuer, his 65-day reign the shortest in WSL history.
And Grace Moloney was in goal for Reading in their 4-0 defeat by Arsenal, her compatriot Katie McCabe sending the London club on their way by winning the penalty that resulted in the game’s opening goal.
In the English Championship, Kyra Carusa marked her first start for London City Lionesses since her move from Danish side HB Koge in February with the team’s third goal in a 3-1 win over Lewes, a result that keeps them in second, six points behind Bristol City and the promotion slot. Not such a good day for Carusa’s club and international team-mate Lily Agg, though – she was sent off 15 minutes from time.
Birmingham City’s promotion hopes have long since faded, a draw with Charlton on Sunday the latest blow, although Louise Quinn at least managed to get on the scoresheet, heading home a corner, as is her habit.
Up in Scotland, meanwhile, Emily Whelan was among Glasgow City’s scorers in an 11-0 trouncing of Glasgow (without the City), and further afield Donegal’s Roma McLaughlin marked her competitive debut for Fortuna Hjorring by scoring in their penalty shoot-out win over Brondby in the quarter-finals of the Danish Cup.
Back home, Jessie Stapleton forgot that she’s a defender/midfielder by scoring both Shelbourne’s goals in their Premier Division win over Bohemians, while Áine O’Gorman ran the show in Shamrock Rovers’ 6-0 defeat of Treaty United.
