The Irish striker nipped in to redirect the ball into the net for her first league goal this season, and also giving Liverpool the win against her old club, West Ham.
Leanne Kiernan has been a very easy player to root for since joining Liverpool in the summer of 2021. She was a key figure in firing the Reds to the FA Women’s Championship title that season, scoring 14 goals along the way. Since then, the Irish striker has missed almost two seasons worth of play due to a major ankle injury and a series of setbacks.
Despite the difficulties, Kiernan has been a bubbly personality off the pitch, as well as a bundle of energy on it. She is one of the better finishers on the team, but has struggled for chances to get in front of goal this season. On Sunday, Kiernan showed off her skills by ghosting into the center of the box to flick home a brilliant low ball in by Ceri Holland, giving the striker her first league goal of the year.
“I know Ceri always cuts in and she’ll whip it in to the front post,” said Kiernan after the match.
“So, I just knew if I was there and [could] lead the ball into the goal, hopefully it’ll go in. It worked!”
To make it even better, Kiernan had her family on hand to watch the match and see her score. It made for a great confidence boost and and all together great weekend.
“I see them [family] in the crowd and they’ll be buzzing. It’s brilliant, it’s really nice having people over from home. Sometimes it’s kind of like a home away from home, and it really helps when the girls come over and support me.”
“It’s been a good weekend, it has been a good week – no complaints. I’m feeling good and feeling confident, so hopefully I’ll keep it up.”
As far as the rest of the match, it followed a similar pattern to many of Liverpool’s matches against bottom half teams this year. The Reds played well enough to control stretches and were rewarded with a first half goal, but then lost control as the match wore on. Unlike many of the earlier matches, Liverpool dug deep and put up a strong rear guard as they held on for the win. According to Kiernan, it’s better to get stuck in than win pretty at this point.
“It wasn’t going to be the prettiest game, we expected a reaction from West Ham from during the week. We were ready for them but it was a tough game for sure. We needed that [the result] and the way the team defended was unbelievable. It wasn’t the prettiest game of football but you can tell we really got stuck in and it’s an important win.”
“We’re not really focused on anybody else around us, it’s more about what we can do better. The important thing is every Sunday to try to get the three points.”