Soccer

Aine O’Gorman and Stephanie Roche score hat-tricks in Ireland rout

Sue Ronan’s side sign off in style despite missing out on qualification

Stephanie Roche heads home to compete her hat-trick in the republic of Ireland’s 9-0 win over Montenegro in the Uefa European Women’s Championship Group 2 qualifier at Tallaght Stadium. Photograph: Tommy Dickson/Inpho

Tue Jun 7 2016 - 22:00

Republic of Ireland 9 Montenegro 0

Aine O'Gorman and Stephanie Roche bagged hat-tricks as the Republic of Ireland matched their record victory in a 9-0 rout of Montenegro at Tallaght Stadium on Tuesday, but their Euro 2017 qualification hopes were ended by results elsewhere.

Finland, who beat the Republic 4-1 last week, drew 0-0 with Portugal earlier in the day to put second place out of reach for the Irish.

However, the bad news did not lead to any sort of subdued performance. Megan Connolly opened the scoring on the rebound after just three minutes and O'Gorman doubled the lead eight minutes later.

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Roche curled in a free-kick on the stroke of half-time before the floodgates opened in the second half. O'Gorman completed her treble before the hour with goals in the 53rd and 58th minutes, and Louise Quinn headed in before Roche scored in the 65th and 69th minutes.

Substitute Fiona O’Sullivan completed the scoring seven minutes from time.

The 9-0 win matched Ireland’s record victory, set against Malta in 2003. Ireland won the reverse fixture against Montenegro 5-0 in April, meaning 14 of their 17 goals in their seven qualifiers to date have come against the Balkan nation.

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