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Cliftonville Ladies 3-0 Linfield Ladies

Cliftonville Ladies returned to action with a stylish victory over Linfield Ladies at Solitude this evening.

Three weeks on from their last Danske Bank Women’s Premiership outing, the Reds took an early lead through Caitlin McGuinness before Marissa Callaghan squeezed home a second ahead of the interval.

McGuinness then put the seal on things when she followed up to finish from close range after a Toni-Leigh Finnegan effort had been clawed out by the goalkeeper.

The deadlock was broken after just six minutes when McGuinness seized upon a pass from Louise McDaniel before producing an emphatic finish from just inside the box.

It was 2-0 when a free-kick delivery from Finnegan snaked its way to the back post, where Callaghan was waiting to slip the ball between the legs of goalkeeper Lauren Currie and over the line.

A couple of smart stops from Rachael Norney maintained Cliftonville’s advantage before Callaghan sent an effort over the top ahead of seeing a free-kick gathered by Currie.

In the second-half, Callaghan was again off target as the Reds continued to threaten, with the security of a third goal arriving when McGuinness made no mistake in the aftermath of a back-tracking Currie dealing with Finnegan’s ambitious long-range attempt.

Cliftonville: Norney, White, Burrows, Morgan, Finnegan, Maxwell, McDaniel, C McGuinness, Callaghan, Carleton, Magee. Subs: Murphy, Moran, Montgomery, K McGuinness, McKimm, Irvine, Doherty.