Boyle Sports NIFL Women's Cup - Final
Cliftonville Ladies 4
Glentoran Ladies 0
At Seaview
A historic fourth league cup in a row returned to North Belfast after Cliftonville's Ladies thrashed Glentoran 4-0 at Seaview on Sunday.
Caitlin McGuinness found the net twice in last season's victory and lightning struck twice as striker managed the same feat again with two great first-half goals to put the Reds in control at the interval.
Kirsty McGuinness soon capped an impressive performance with a third goal midway through the second half before Danielle Maxwell made sure the cup would be returning back to Solitude for another year when she netted with less than ten minutes of time remaining.
Cliftonville started as they meant to go on and threatened early on as Kirsty McGuinness' inswinging corner on two minutes clipped the top of the crossbar to send an early warning sign to the Glens.
Another Kirsty McGuinness set-play saw her tee up Vicky Carleton, whose first-time effort flew narrowly wide of the upright and the game remained goalless.
After 20 minutes of relentless pressure, eventually the holders would break the Glentoran defence when Caitlin McGuinness held off Jess Foy to latch onto Maddie Harvey-Clifford's cross-field ball forward before slotting past Glens shot-stopper McKinnon for the opener.
McGuinness and Cliftonville doubled their tally six minutes later as she lashed an unstoppable shot past McKinnon into the far corner.
A two-goal lead in favour of the Reds was the score-line at the home of Crusaders by the time of the interval, but Glentoran regrouped at the start of the second half and started to ask a few more questions of the holders but failed to cause the Cliftonville defence any real worry.
Brendan Lynch was forced to call his tactics from the changing room, the after Cliftonville boss was dismissed when he picked up two yellow cards in quick succession after he exchanged words with referee.
Caitlin McGuinness went close to bagging her hat-trick just after the hour mark after a great run down the left finished with McKinnon blocking her shot at the near post and denying her the match-ball.
But within two minutes Cliftonville did have a third as Kirsty McGuinness followed her sister on getting on the score sheet after she produced a composed finish from Danielle Maxwell's cross and virtually sealed the cup for Cliftonville.
In the final ten minutes, Cliftonville managed to up the ante once again and Maxwell was to get in on the act with eight minutes to go as she pounced on a slack clearance from McKinnon, exchanged passes with Louise McDaniel on the edge of the box before cracking an unstoppable effort into the top corner to put the icing on the cake for the north Belfast outfit.
A terrific start to their campaign as Cliftonville will hope to make it a domestic double as they return to league action where they have five wins from five so far.
Cliftonville: Harvey-Clifford, O McGuinness (Maxwell, 56 mins), Burrows, Morgan, Doherty (O’Neill, 79 mins), Lynch (McDaniel, 75 mins), Carleton, Havern, Magee, C McCuinness, K McGuinness (Kelly, 79 mins). Unused subs: Gallagher, Anderson, Thompson.
