Former Mayo football star Sarah Rowe wins Australian soccer title

Former Mayo Ladies footballer Sarah Rowe added another string to her spectacular sporting bow on Sunday when she helped Central Coast Mariners win Australia's A-League Women's Grand Final.

The Ballina native and former Republic of Ireland soccer international, who also plays Australian Football with Collingwood, played a central role for the Mariners as they won the title after a penalty shoot-out.

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The final with Melbourne Victory ended in a 5-4 penalty shootout win for Rowe and her team, as they claimed the title for the first time. Captain Bianca Galic smashed home the final penalty at AAMI Park in Melbourne to give Central Coast the win, having earlier seen Victory's Alana Jancevski hit the crossbar with the opening spot kick.

The game went to a shoot-out after the teams shared a 1-1 draw in regulation time, with neither side able to score in 30 minutes of extra time.

Isabel Gomez had given Central Coast the lead less than a minute into the second half when she prodded the ball past Courtney Newbon as the Victory defence failed to clear Annalise Rasmussen's deflected shot as it looped into the air.

Victory saw two efforts disallowed before Claudia Bunge levelled with 10 minutes remaining, the central defender meeting Alana Murphy's corner with a powerful header that Annabel Martin could not prevent from crossing the line

The game moved into penalties, and Jancevski hit the woodwork with the opening kick of the shoot-out to leave Galic to score the winner in the fifth and final round.

Rowe, who played at right-back in the final, joined Central Coast Mariners last December at the end of the AFLW season with Collingwood. She will now return to Collingwood for pre-season training, having added another medal to her soccer collection.

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The Ballina woman was a star forward for Kilmoremoy and Mayo Ladies and also earned a Republic of Ireland senior soccer cap in 2015 after a stellar underage career. However, she moved to Australia in 2018 to play Australian Rules with Collingwood and has been primarily based there ever since.

She returned to Ireland to play with Bohemians during one of her off-seasons from Collingwood and also played with Shelbourne in 2016 when they won the league and cup double. Rowe is primarily known as an Australian Rules footballer now, but she hasn't ruled out the dream of playing at international level for the Irish soccer team in the future.

Her Central Coast Mariners team manager, Emily Husband, was loud in her praise for Rowe after Sunday's final. “It was fantastic to have someone of Sarah’s experience today, and I think it really helped push the team forward this season.”