Teegan Lynch goal celebration
LATE goals were very much the theme of the evening as Cliftonville Ladies, Lisburn Rangers and Crusaders Strikers all picked up Friday night wins in the Sports Direct Women’s Premiership.
Cliftonville moved to the top of the table with a five-star showing against Larne Women at Inver Park, putting pressure on now second placed Glentoran going into their massive Big Two derby against Linfield on Sunday.
Fionnuala Morgan opened the scoring for the Reds on 21 minutes with a powerful header into the net from Katie Markey’s well delivered corner.
Teegan Lynch doubled up five minutes after that when another corner, this time sent over by Marissa Callaghan, was headed over the line from point blank range.
Callaghan got on the scoresheet herself midway through the second half to add to Cliftonville’s advantage with a drilled finish from Abbie Magee’s set piece.
Lydia Thompson added to the tally with six minutes remaining after she ran to get on the end of Caitlin McGuinness’ cross into the box.
And McGuinness wrapped the scoring in stoppage time when she met Callaghan’s perfectly weighted pass to take the ball past the keeper and into the net.
Lisburn Rangers made sure of their place in the top four after the split with a narrow defeat of Derry City at the Brandywell.
Scoreless for the entire 90 minutes, what turned out to be the winner arrived in stoppage time at the end of the game when Gracie Conway found the net to secure the points for the visitors.
Two stoppage time goals helped Crusaders claim the points from the visit of Lisburn Ladies to Seaview.
The visitors led at the break when Ella Parker found the net midway through the first half.A
And that was how it stayed until the 92nd minute when Caitlyn Hamilton levelled for the Crues before, remarkably, four minutes after that Jessica Rea knocked home what proved to be the winner.
The action continues on Sunday when Glentoran Women play host to Linfield Women at the Blanchflower Stadium (kick-off 4.00pm) in the final game before the split, live on the DAZN Network.
| POS | TEAM | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | PTS | FORM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cliftonville Ladies | 14 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 42 | 6 | 36 | 37 | WWWWW |
| 2 | Glentoran Women | 13 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 54 | 10 | 44 | 36 | WWWWW |
| 3 | Linfield Women | 13 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 59 | 16 | 43 | 31 | WWWWL |
| 4 | Lisburn Rangers | 14 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 24 | 26 | -2 | 21 | LLLLW |
| 5 | Crusaders Strikers | 14 | 6 | 0 | 8 | 24 | 37 | -13 | 18 | LLWLW |
| 6 | Derry City Women | 14 | 4 | 0 | 10 | 17 | 35 | -18 | 12 | LLLWL |
| 7 | Lisburn Ladies | 14 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 5 | 44 | -39 | 4 | LLLDL |
| 8 | Larne Women | 14 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 10 | 61 | -51 | 4 | LWLDL |
