London City Lionesses had hardly become the first female side not affiliated to a men’s club to win promotion to England’s WSL after their 2-2 draw with Birmingham City on Sunday when their billionaire owner Michele Kang was already talking about their recruitment plans for next season.
Where that will leave Megan Campbell, who signed an 18-month contract with the club in January of last year, remains to be seen, but no one celebrated harder on that pitch come full-time than the Republic of Ireland international.
London City had gone into the game, the last of the Championship season, two points clear of Birmingham, so needed just a draw to seal promotion. They led 2-0, and then had to endure a stomach-churning conclusion to the game after Birmingham drew level and then threw the kitchen sink at trying to find the winner they needed.
It wasn’t to be, Lucy and Louise Quinn, who both came on as subs for Birmingham, left inconsolable. Jamie Finn and Lily Agg, both recovering from ACL injuries, could only look on.
A flight to New York for €15. Is this the Trump effect on transatlantic travel?
Northern Ireland teachers in Qatar: ‘We’re 25 and middle management. A lot of friends at home are still sub teaching’
Leo Cullen under scrutiny after Leinster loss to Northampton
Ireland’s mobile saunas in danger of being killed off by red tape and bureaucratic confusion
Louise Quinn, playing her last professional game of football after announcing her retirement earlier in the week, was thrown up front for the last 15 minutes, 10 of which were added time, in the hope that she might nick a winner. No joy.
London City, then, join the big guns next season, Ruesha Littlejohn and Grace Moloney probably feeling bittersweet about it all having been released by the club back in January after Kang’s splurge on a dozen new players, including a raft of World Cup, Champions League and WSL winners.
Like Louise Quinn, Niamh Fahey, her long-time Ireland comrade, announced that she would be retiring from football at the end of the season. Her Liverpool side have just one game to go in the WSL.
