It’s 15 years since Niamh Fahey won the first of her five FA Cup medals, four with Arsenal and the last with Chelsea, but it would appear her appetite for another hasn’t been sated. She’s through to the quarter-finals of this season’s competition, along with fellow Republic of Ireland international Leanne Kiernan, after Liverpool saw off the challenge of London City Lionesses on Sunday.
In all, the clubs of six Irish players will feature in the last eight, Courtney Brosnan and Heather Payne’s Everton also in the hat for Monday’s draw after they trounced third-tier Nottingham Forest 7-1. Aoife Mannion’s Manchester United are there too, as are Tara O’Hanlon’s Manchester City, although she is still on the road to recovery from a hamstring tear and has yet to make her debut for her new club.
Mannion, who played for United in last May’s FA Cup final defeat to Chelsea, made her first appearance of the season when she came on in injury-time in Sunday’s 3-1 win away to Southampton. The defender has had to endure yet another lengthy period of rehabilitation, this time from medial collateral ligament damage, having previously suffered two ACL injuries in the space of just over two years.
Kiernan, equally injury-plagued in recent seasons, is also being eased back in to action by her club, making her first appearance since December last week, and given another 20 minutes against London City on Sunday. Liverpool won 2-0 against a side that featured Grace Moloney and Ruesha Littlejohn.
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There was no joy for Birmingham City’s Jamie Finn and Lucy Quinn, their compatriots Louise Quinn and Lily Agg still sidelined with injury, with Leicester City easing past them with a 6-2 win. Also out of luck were Crystal Palace, who now feature three Irish players in their ranks, Abbie Larkin and Izzy Atkinson having joined Hayley Nolan at the club in the transfer window. They put up a hell of a battle against cup holders Chelsea, though, only losing to a lovely flicked finish from British record signing Mayra Ramirez nine minutes from time.
And a week after a defeat by West Ham put a severe dent in their league title hopes, Arsenal were knocked out of the cup by Manchester City, Katie McCabe having a day to forget. After a running battle with City’s Lauren Hemp, which got decidedly spiky at times, she was taken off after 65 minutes.
