Duo at the double

Lisburn Ladies 0-5 Cliftonville

Caitlin McGuinness and Fi Morgan each netted doubles as Cliftonville Ladies maintained their perfect start to the Danske Bank Women’s Premiership season with a 5-0 victory over Lisburn Ladies this evening.

Kirsty McGuinness opened the scoring at the Bluebell Stadium, where the Reds had to wait until the second-half before pulling away from their hosts.

Younger sister Caitlin made it 2-0 before she and Morgan traded finishes in a late rally that saw the visitors clock up an emphatic success.

Lisburn goalkeeper Jess Poots made an early save to deny Yasmin White and Morgan hit the post as Cliftonville began brightly and the deadlock was broken on 20 minutes when Toni-Leigh Finnegan’s long ball into the area was seized upon by Kirsty McGuinness, who calmly lifted her shot over the advancing Poots.

Abbie Magee, Danielle Maxwell and Finnegan all went close to doubling the visitors’ advantage and Kirsty McGuinness rattled the crossbar as the Reds’ bid to extend their advantage was repeatedly thwarted before the interval.

It was a similar story after the break with Poots making a number of saves and, after White had seen claims for a penalty dismissed, Cliftonville’s second goal finally came when Caitlin McGuinness (pictured) showed composure to tuck home from inside the box with 17 minutes remaining.

Soon later, Morgan made it 3-0 with a close-range rebound after seeing her initial headed effort saved and the Reds had a fourth when a long-range strike from Caitlin McGuinness sailed beyond Poots’ despairing grasp.

The scoring was complete in injury-time when, from an almost identical position that she had seen that earlier header kept out, Morgan made no mistake with a bullet finish from a corner.

Cliftonville: Welsh, White, Burrows, Morgan, Finnegan (Montgomery, 70 mins), Maxwell, McDaniel, C McGuinness, K McGuinness (Callaghan, 46 mins), McKimm, Magee (Campbell, 88 mins). Unused subs: Murphy, Reilly, Wilton, Mailey.