Proud nine

Cliftonville Ladies 9-0 Crusaders Strikers

Cliftonville Ladies powered to a sensational nine-goal victory in this evening’s North Belfast Derby at Solitude.

There were just seven minutes on the clock when the recently-returned Toni-Leigh Finnegan broke the deadlock against Crusaders Strikers, who fell further behind when Teegan Lynch made it 2-0 with a quarter of an hour gone.

Kirsty McGuinness almost immediately extended the Reds’ lead before Lynch bagged her second of the night ahead of Lynch doing likewise to put the seal on a five-star first-half display.

Caitlin McGuinness registered her inevitable goal nine minutes after the interval and Lucy Kelly got in on the brace-bagging act when she netted on 65 and 69 minutes to make it 8-0.

The scoring was complete in injury-time when Charlotte Havern picked her spot with a wonderful free-kick to cap an emphatic display from Brendan Lynch’s side.