Shoalhaven’s Shaylee Meehan bagged four goals to help her team defeat Woonona FC 4-3 in a thrilling Julie Porter Cup Final on Wednesday night.
Woonona hit the lead as early as the sixth minute. Jessica Beale got herself onto a loose ball on the edge of the box before sweetly hitting a half-volley, driving the ball into the corner of the goal. It was a peach of a goal that left Jillian Scott helpless.
Shoalhaven replied quickly within three minutes. A perfectly timed ball from Lauren Gilbert, combined with a well-executed run from Shaylee Meehan, allows her to round the goalkeeper and slot the ball into an open net.
On 17 minutes, a neat ball dissected Shoalhaven’s defensive line, allowing Brittany Ring a one-on-one opportunity; however, Scott did exceptionally well to smother the effort.
Just seconds later, Scott was once again called into action to keep Shoalhaven in the game. Tess Stephens made a darting run down the left side before cutting the ball back across goal to Laura Green. Scott, again doing well to get down early and deny Woonona.
Out of almost nothing and midway through the half, a long ball forward from Shoalhaven saw Meehan chase it down, and it was her pure determination that saw her get a toe to the ball ahead of goalkeeper Anna Simon, poking the ball into goal. After a couple of scares, Shoalhaven hit the lead for the first time in the match.
Shoalhaven managed to maintain their led to the break.
On 53 minutes, a cheeky lob from Beth Tomlinson almost caught Scott off guard however the Shoalhaven goalkeeper managed to recover in time.
Moments later, Gilbert made her way into the box before slicing a shot that needed a desperate lunging save from Simon to deny her.
On the hour, Woonona had two half chances with Tomlinson going close from a free kick and Ring having her effort go straight to Scott.
With 20 minutes left, Shoalhaven gave themselves some breathing space. Meehan nabbed her hat-trick after she latched on to a loose ball to drive her volley into the bottom right corner. At 3-1 with 20 minutes to go, we were looking at a Cup set.
Shoalhaven had barely finished celebrating before Stephens volleyed her left-footed effort into the top left corner to quickly reduce the deficit.
Incredibly, Meehan made it four just seconds later. She used her pace to beat a defender driving forward before slipping it past Simon.
Woonona threw players forward as Shoalhaven looked to close out the game.
On 88 minutes, Ring managed to nudge the ball over the line after a bit of a scramble to make it 4-3 and set up a nervy finish.
Shoalhaven managed to hold off Woonona to secure the Julie Porter Cup in their first season in the Women’s top-flight competition.
It’s no surprise Shaylee Meehan received the Player of the Match honour after scoring all four Shoalhaven goals.
📸 Photos: Gragrapix
✍️ Report: Bobby Mazevski
