Ladies suffer title heartache

Glentoran Women 3-2 Cliftonville Ladies

Cliftonville Ladies’ title challenge fell agonisingly short as Glentoran Women retained the Danske Bank Women’s Premiership crown with a 3-2 victory at The Oval this evening.

The Reds trailed 2-0 at the interval but roared back to level before the Glens bagged a winner which, thanks to their superior head-to-head record in clashes between the sides this season, was enough to secure the trophy with one round of games left to play.

Caragh Hamilton and Kelly Bailie netted in the opemong 45 minutes to put the hosts on course but Louise McDaniel capitalised on an error to reduce the arrears early in the secoond-half ahead of skipper Megan Moran connecting with Kirsty McGuinness’ corner to make it 2-2.

A draw would have kept the title race alive until next week, but Cliftonville suffered heartache soon after dragging themselves level when Kerry Beattie restored Glentoran’s lead.

Though the Reds felt they had strong claims for a penalty when Marissa Callaghan was felled inside the box on 90 minutes, it simply wasn’t to be for John McGrady’s second, who finish in a very respectable second place in the table at the end of a superb season.

Cliftonville: Norney, White, Burrows, Moran, Morgan, McDaniel, C McGuinness, K McGuinness, Davis, Callaghan, McHenry. Unused subs: Welsh, McKimm, Caldwell, McConnell, Montgomery.