The 2021 FAI Women's Cup final (known as The EVOKE.ie FAI Women's Cup Final for sponsorship reasons) was the final match of the 2021 FAI Women's Cup, the national association football Cup of the Republic of Ireland. The match took place on 21 November 2021 at Tallaght Stadium in Dublin. Wexford Youths and Shelbourne contested the match.

The match was shown live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ2 HD in Ireland, and via the RTÉ Player worldwide with commentary from Ger Canning and Lisa Fallon. It was refereed by Paula Brady, assisted by David Berry and Conor Fitzgibbon with Claire Purcell as Fourth Official. The 3,053 attendance was a record for a stand-alone women's final in Ireland.

Wexford Youths won 3–1 to secure the trophy for the fourth time in seven seasons and avenge their 5–0 defeat by Shelbourne in the 2016 final. Shelbourne, crowned League champions the previous week, missed the opportunity to claim a "double".

Match Summary On 31 minutes Shelbourne captain Pearl Slattery was cautioned for a foul by the centre circle, and when Shelbourne failed to clear the resultant free kick, Lynn-Marie Grant hoisted the ball high over goalkeeper Amanda Budden from the edge of the penalty area to give Wexford the lead. Shelbourne equalised on 39 minutes when Jessica Ziu's firm shot came back off the base of the post and fell to Ciara Grant who looped the ball in off the other post.

Five minutes into the second half, Wexford retook the lead. Player of the Match Ellen Molloy cut inside from the right and crossed to Kylie Murphy, who finished low past Budden from 12 yards (11m). Saoirse Noonan broke clear on 60 minutes, but Wexford full-back Orlaith Conlon made a last ditch tackle in which she injured her knee and had to be substituted. On 74 minutes Molloy was involved in Wexford's third goal, when after having a shot blocked she headed the ball to Edel Kennedy on the edge of the Shelbourne penalty area. Kennedy hit a powerful half volley past Budden to score the best goal of the game.

After their unexpected League title win the previous week, Shelbourne's players had partied until 7am at Tolka Park. Fatigue contributed their lacklustre performance in the Cup final. Although Wexford substitute Teegan Lynch had apparently not been listed in the matchday squad, Shelbourne declined to raise any complaint and instead congratulated their opponents: "the better team on the night".

Details

GK 18 Ciamh Gray DF 3 Orlaith Conlon DF 4 Della Doherty DF 5 Lauren DwyerDF16 Nicola Sinnott MF8 Edel Kennedy MF 12 Ciara Rossiter MF 17 Aoibheann ClancyMF 19 Lynn-Marie Grant AM 20 Ellen Molloy FW 6 Kylie Murphy (c)Substitutions:GK 21 Maeve WilliamsMF 7 Freya De Mange FW 9 Katie Law FW 10 Sinead Taylor DF 11 Lynn Craven MF 23 Fiona Ryan FW 23 Emma Walker FW 24 Kira Bates-Crosbie MF 2 Teegan LynchRTÉ coverage of the match noted that Wexford Youths' second substitute Teegan Lynch was not named in the matchday squad. Manager: Stephen Quinn GK 1 Amanda BuddenDF 2 Jess Gargan DF 4 Pearl Slattery (c) DF 5 Shauna Fox DF14 Chloe Mustaki MF3 Jessie Stapleton MF 7 Jessica ZiuMF 8 Rachel Graham MF 12 Ciara Grant AM 10 Noelle MurrayFW 25 Saoirse Noonan Substitutions:GK 16 Sophie Lenehan MF 6 Alex Kavanagh DF 9 Keeva Keenan MF 13 Mia Dodd FW 18 Abbie Larkin MF 19 Leah Doyle MF 20 Rebecca Creagh MF 21 Taylor White Manager: Noel King

Match officials Assistant referees: David Berry Conor Fitzgibbon Fourth official: Claire PurcellMatch rules 90 minutes. 20 minutes of extra time if necessary. Penalty shoot-out if scores level. Eight substitutes named. Maximum of five substitutions.

Notes

References

External links RTÉ's full match coverage on RTÉ Player