Birthday Cait

Glentoran Women 1-2 Cliftonville Ladies

Birthday girl Caitlin McGuinness kept her cool to hit a late winner as Cliftonville Ladies pulled eight points clear at the top of the Sports Direct Women’s Premiership with a gusty victory over Glentoran Women.

Having seen Teegan Lynch’s first-half strike cancelled out, a draw would not have been the worst outcome for the Reds against their title rivals, but Brendan Lynch’s side demonstrated their mentality by going on to claim a seismic success that could prove crucial come the end of the season.

Though Linfield and the Glens – in second and third, respectively – hold a game in hand, it is crucially against one another, with Cliftonville guaranteed to hold a healthy advantage when the League’s two-way split takes effect in just over a week’s time.

The Blanchflower Stadium deadlock was broken after 24 minutes when Kirsty McGuinness engineered some space for herself down the left and her cutback was expertly touched home by the alert Lynch.

Glentoran levelled just past the hour when Nadene Caldwell produced a classy finish inside the area and, with both teams hungry to pocket maximum points, the contest remained on a knife edge ahead of the Reds restoring their advantage with just seven minutes left to play.

Caitlin McGuinness, who turned 24 today, chased what looked like being a lost cause, applying pressure to a home defender who lost her footing, before seizing control of the ball, side-stepping the attentions of goalkeeper Ellie Scott and retaining her composure to find the bottom corner of the empty net, sparking impassioned celebrations from players and supporters alike.