WHEN reigning League and Cup double holders Glentoran Women clinched the Toal’s County Antrim Challenge Cup in August it was this remarkable squad’s 17th senior trophy in the last seven seasons. In this one trophy, it was their fourth victory in the last five seasons.
Remarkably this was achieved despite the departure in July of top scorer Kerry Beattie and midfield maestro Joely Andrews to full time football in Scotland with Heart of Midlothian. In the first two months of the season, those two players alone had accounted for 21 goals.
Head Coach Kim Turner moved quickly to strengthen after the loss of the two Hearts bound players by bringing in former Wolves player Ellie Butler and the experienced Kelly Crompton from Sligo Rovers. This team building follows the pre-season signings of Aimee Kerr from Ballyclare Comrades, Aimee Neal from Sion Swifts (both Aimees are current NI under 21 internationalists) and Sofie Keenan from Linfield Ladies. All three of the summer signings have already made a strong impact on this season’s successes.
Seven Glentoran players have been capped by Northern Ireland so far this season – the two players now in Scotland plus international regulars Demi Vance, Chloe McCarron, Nadene Caldwell, Emily Wilson and Emma McMaster. The strength of the Glentoran set up is clearly demonstrated by the fact that three other members of the international squad – Lauren Wade, Caragh Hamilton and Jackie Burns – are also currently playing in the full-time game.
Glentoran team en route to Cyprus for Champions League tie
It also looks good for the future as in April no fewer than seven young Glentoran players featured in Northern Ireland Under 19s successful Euro qualifiers in Georgia and Kazakhstan with the Glens’ Rachel McIntyre scoring four times in the win in Georgia. Five even younger Academy players were selected for the Northern Ireland Under 15 training squad in June.
This season is far from over. The Glens currently top the Sports Direct Women’s Premiership table and on September 4 they are off to Paphos in Cyprus to face Slovenian Champions NS Mura in the first qualifying round of the UEFA Women’s Champions League. Then, on their return, they face Cliftonville in in the semi-final of the Electric Ireland Women’s Challenge Cup, a trophy they have won for each of the past five seasons.
When Glentoran Women’s captain Jess Foy lifted the trophy for last season’s Sports Direct Women’s Premiership, it was a suitable end for the squad, as they became champions for the third time in four years.
It was a remarkable achievement as the squad powered through undefeated. They won all but two of their 18 games, those being two draws against an excellent Cliftonville Ladies team, the previous season’s champions. In the course of the 18 games, they scored 101 goals, conceding just 7.
Glentoran boasted the province’s top scorer last season, 20-year-old Kerry Beattie who scored an incredible 35 goals, averaging almost two goals per game she played. It total, five players managed double figures last season – Joely Andrews (20 goals), Emily Wilson (16), Caragh Hamilton (13) and Demi Vance (10). The squad managed to overcome the mid-season departure of Hamilton – a regular television pundit – to full time football in England with Lewes Town, a loss that would have been a body blow to any other squad,
This incredible squad has won no fewer than 15 senior trophies in the last seven seasons, including a four-trophy clean sweep in 2021, three league titles and so far four consecutive retentions of the Electric Ireland Challenge Cup.
Demi Vance
Rachel Rogan
The team has been a great mix of youth and experience. Club legend Kelly Baillie’s has notched up 11 title medals while long serving players like Caldwell, Vance, Foy, Ashleigh McKinnon, Annie Timoney and Rachel Rogan have won multiple titles with the club. At the other end of the scale youth players such as Ellie Scott, Sarah Tweedie, Kascie Weir, Megan Neill and Rachel McIntyre broke through to win their first senior medal. Great news for the future.
The team is managed by Kim Turner. Kim, from a diehard Glentoran family, returned to the club in 2022 after a playing career that started at Glentoran and included spells at Manchester City and Blackburn Rovers and 46 senior caps for Northern Ireland. Alongside her role as Head Coach, she is also Head of the fast-growing Girls and Women’s Academy at Glentoran.
Kim and her management team of Gemma Quigley, John Spence, Andy Smyth, Emma Donaghey, Emma Traynor and long serving General Manager Billy Clarke are highly committed, hardworking and professional and this is reflected in the team.
The Glens will now compete in the UEFA Women’s Champions League again in 2024. No time for rest at this club!
Head Coach Kim Turner
County Antrim Cup winners 2024
