Page 20 - Women's Soccer Scene Issue No.6 2022-23

The Danske Bank NI Women’s Premiership resumed this week with the league having been split
into two halves and leaders Cliftonville Ladies returned to action with a 3-0 victory over
Linfield. Caitlin McGuinness and Marissa Callaghan put the Reds two up inside the opening
eighteen minutes and McGuinness rounded off the win with her second goal late on.
Second met third with Glentoran hosting Crusaders Strikers and a first half goal from
Chloe McCarron gave the Glens a 1-0 win. The result widens the gap between the two teams to
nine points, whilst Glentoran remain a single point behind Cliftonville.
Sion Swifts are all but certain of finishing on top of the bottom half following their 2-0
success against Derry City. Clarah Quigg gave Sion an eight minute lead and Tara O’Connor-
Farren sealed the points with the second P W D L F A Pts GD
goal, on the stroke of half time. CLIFTONVILLE LADIES 14 13 0 1 60 7 39 53
The other match in the bottom GLENTORAN 15 12 2 1 62 9 38 53
section also resulted in a 2-0 win, for CRUSADERS STRIKERS 15 9 2 4 38 20 29 18
Lisburn Ladies over Mid Ulster LINFIELD LADIES 15 7 2 6 32 28 23 4
Ladies. Stacey Murdough gave Lisburn SION SWIFTS 14 7 2 5 32 20 23 12
the lead, before an own goal secured a LISBURN LADIES 15 3 2 10 16 43 11 -27
MID ULSTER LADIES 15 1 1 13 11 59 4 -48
result which eases Lisburn’s fears about DERRY CITY 15 0 3 12 2 66 3 -64
finishing in the bottom two, opening up a
seven point advantage over their Lisburn 2 Mid Ulster 0; Cliftonville 3 Linfield 0; Glentoran 1
opponents. Crusaders 0; Sion 2 Derry 0.

Glentoran and Sion Swifts will contest the Electric Ireland Women's Challenge Cup final on
November 5th at the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park.
Holders Glentoran continued their defence of the trophy with a 4-0 semi final defeat of
Linfield Ladies at Inver Park. Joely Andrews opened the scoring for the Glens after a quarter of
an hour when she connected with Casey Howe's cross delivered from wide on the left to direct the
ball past Lauren Currie.
Glentoran had numerous opportunities to double their advantage after that but had to wait
until early in the second half to do so when the evergreen Kelly Bailie grabbed arguably the goal
of the night with a superbly executed free kick from wide on the right into the opposite top corner.
Caragh Hamilton followed up with a third on the hour after a sensational run through the
Linfield defence before flicking the finish past Currie from six yards.
Jess Foy might have added number four soon after only to rattle the bar from the edge of
the area but Glentoran's fourth did arrive three minutes from time courtesy of Nadene Caldwell's
far post header after Foy had sent over a set piece from the right flank.
Sion defeated Crusaders Strikers after coming from two goals down to force extra time
before triumphing 3-1 on penalties in a nail biting encounter at Stangmore Park. Jessica Rea fired
Crusaders in front as early as the sixth minute with a left foot finish past Jennifer Currie but Sion
did well to respond positively, coming close through Caoirse Doherty and Naomi McLaughlin.
However, the Crues doubled their advantage early in the second half thanks to a brave
header from Caitlyn Hamilton.
But, as before, Sion didn’t let their heads drop and duly pulled one back with around fifteen
minutes to go when Cora Chambers squeezed the ball home from an acute angle. Then, less than
ten minutes after that, Chambers struck again to level for Sion before in stoppage time, Kelly
Crompton almost snatched a dramatic winner when she sent a looping header onto the bar.
Extra time failed to produce any further goals although Ellie Long and Kerryanne Brown
both produced goalline clearances to thwart the Crues.
Goalkeeper Currie was the hero of the hour for Sion in the penalty shootout that followed.
She denied both Rachel McLaren and Rea while McLaughlin, Chambers and Teegan Lynch all
converted for Sion and when Amy McGivern sent Crusaders’ fourth spot kick against the crossbar
there was no way back for the Belfast side. (irishfa.com)
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