Despite City having had the better chances in the opening minutes, it was Chelsea who took the lead and the indomitable England centre-back Millie Bright powered the move, collecting the clearance from a Chelsea free-kick on the right before thumping the ball goalward only for Kerr to steal in and nod the final yard over the line it looked destined to cross anyway.
There was a risk in the following period that City would be cowed and Chelsea would exploit their bruised prey. First, Guro Reiten lifted a 30-yard effort over the bar with Ellie Roebuck miles off her line, then Harder shot wide from distance, too.
In added time at the end of the half City felt aggrieved when Shaw was felled by the centre-back Aniek Nouwen in the box but with no VAR and only goalline technology in use there was no reassessment of the incident.
Despite the rivalry that has developed between those in sky blue shirts and their opposites in royal blue, with the past five FA Cup finals won by one of the two teams, this was the first time they had met in the final. Chelsea and City had faced each other eight times in the FA Cup or League Cup before this season, where they finally met in the final of each domestic cup competition.
