Ciara Grant named Player of the Match as Hibernian qualify for inaugural Europa Cup

Ciara Grant was named as the Hibernian Player of the Match for their Champions League placement match against Apollon as they qualified for the inaugural women’s Europa League.

The Letterkenny native was in fine form for the Edinburgh-based side as they took a 3-2 win over their Cypriot counterparts in Pafos.

Kathleen McGovern’s goal put the visitors ahead, but Steffi Hardy levelled the game before half-time.

McGovern got a second straight after the restart and she made it a hat-trick on 90 minutes before Hardy got a second three minutes later, although it was too little, too late for the hosts.

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But despite getting a hat-trick, a first for a Hibs player since Kim Little in August 2007, McGovern was beaten to the Player of the Match accolade by the 32-year-old Grant, as her performance was described as ‘perfect’ on the day.

Ciara Grant and Hibernian suffered heartbreak on Wednesday night as Fortuna Hjorring struck deep into injury time to seal a dramatic 2-1 win in Denmark, knocking the Scots out of Europe’s Premier competition.

But they bounced back on Saturday and will await their opponents in the first edition of the UEFA Women's Europa Cup, with the first qualifying round draw taking place later today.