A TRIBUTE TO THE LATE, GREAT Brendan O’Brien

By Pat Cordelle

Women’s Senior Team

2022 Goals Review

by Kev Doyle

Good evening and welcome to our 1st encounter with Sligo Rovers this season. The Bit o’ Red are the only side remaining in the premier division we have yet to face and sit 4th seven games into 2023 at the time of writing.On the pitch since our last issue the red’s deservedly beat Cork City on St.Patrick’s Day in the rebel county an enjoyable day was had by the large traveling contingent followed by the long awaited return to the calendar of the Leinster Senior Cup where we easily saw off Dundalk to advance to a meeting with Wexford in the next round.

Followed by a frustrating game against Derry City in Tolka Friday before last due to some questionable decisions. The women’s side meanwhile had two home games, a well earned draw with Shamrock Rovers in what was an excellent game followed by the disappointing home defeat at the hands of Galway. They bounced back in some style however, demolishing Peamount away from home 4-1. Now onto the main body of this the 36th edition of #RedsStats reviewing the goals scored & conceded by our women’s side throughout last season in 2022.

The Numbers:

Goals Scored = 71 or 2.22 per game.

Goals Conceded = 17 or 0.53 per game.

Goals Scored:Set Piece vs Open play = 28% vs 72%

Most common type was goals scored via a shot from inside the box (44) which was 62% of the reds goals in 2022.

Least common type of goal was an own goal (2) which accounted for 3% of red’s goals. A similar style collection of data is planned and already in action for goals conceded from now on.

Top Scorer: Only 5 red’s scored 5 or more goals in 2022 these were as follows:

1st: Noelle Murray on 12.

2nd: Jessie Stapleton on 8.

3rd: Jemma Quinn, Abbie Larkin and Saoirse Noonan on 7.

So that accounts for 58% of red’s goals among those 5 players.

Goal Scored Times:1st Half 59% vs 2nd Half 41%.

Top 3 time periods for the red’s to score goals in 2022 were 0-15 mins (18) at 25%, 75-90 mins (13) at 18% and 30-45 mins (12) at 17%.

Least likely times for the red’s to score last year were the two periods of stoppage time at the end of either half 1st half (3) at 4% and 2nd half (5) at 7%.

Goals Conceded Times:

1st Half 47% vs 2nd Half 53%.

Top 3 periods in this category in 2022 were 60-75 (5) at 29%, 45-60 and 15-30 minutes (3) at 17.5%.

The least likely time for the red’s to concede last year was during the period of 2nd half stoppage time (0) accounting for just 0% of goals conceded by the side in 2022.

Analysis:It’s clear to see that the 2022 edition of the reds were certainly mean at the back conceding just 17 goals all year. The 13 league goals they conceded equating to 0.48 per game was the lowest goals to game ratio conceded in the Women’s national league since its inception.

With 84.5% of red’s goals being scored from a position within the opposition’s penalty area it is clear where the main threat from the reds last year lay.

On the goal scoring front it is impressive to note that in a tie for third place Saoirse Noonan with 7 goals achieved this in only 11 games and 758 minutes on the pitch compared the other top scorers before her summer departure to Durham FC.

This gives her a goals to minute ratio of 1 goal per 69 minutes played compared to 1 per 221 minutes for top scorer Noelle Murray and 1 per 349 minutes for 2nd placed Jessie Stapleton.

The reds certainly bossed 1st halves of games last year scoring nearly 60% of their goals in this period. But they didn’t then die off in the second half as seen by the fact that the second most common period for them to score was in the final 15 minutes of the game showing they could stay the course in games and part of the reason beyond there doublewinning campaign.

Form Guide:

The visitors tonight to tolka park are Sligo Rovers, a side against whom we had a record of 2 win, and 2 defeats in 2022, obviously yielding a 50% win rate.

Our LOIW side completed the 1st phase of the league campaign out in Greenogue, and are now in the middle of 2 weeks off while international camps return with our own Jessie Stapleton present in preparation for this summer’s Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand they return to action on April 15th in Tolka Park against Treaty United.

That’s your lot for this the 36th #RedsStats enjoy the game tonight, We’ll return in 2 weeks time ahead of the visit of Dundalk Fc to Tolka Park with an article summing up the First Series of games for our men’s side which ends tonight. Until then UP THE REDS.