Danske Bank Women's Premiership: Dominant Cliftonville hit the top with 6-0 win
Cliftonville made it two wins from two in the Danske Bank Women’s Premiership after an emphatic 6-0 win over Derry City last night (Wednesday).
Northern Ireland skipper Marissa Callaghan (main pic) bagged two of the goals while international team-mate Caitlin McGuinness also claimed a brace.
Danielle Maxwell and Toni Leigh Finnegan completed the rout to send the Reds top of the table with the same number of points as holders, Glentoran, who beat newcomers, Mid-Ulster 3-1 earlier in the week.
Elsewhere, a late free-kick from Julie Nelson earned a point for Crusaders Strikers at home to Linfield Ladies in the Belfast derby at Seaview.
Rebecca Bassett had given the Blues a first-half lead but Nelson’s strike with nine minutes left on the clock ensured the points were shared between the two sides – who each made winning starts to the league last week.
Meanwhile, Sion Swifts Ladies had too much for newly-promoted Lisburn Ladies with four goals in the space of 16 first half minutes killing the tie as a contest in a 5-1 triumph.
Claire Rooney’s early own goal after Naomi McLaughlin’s free-kick came back off the post opened the scoring before Naomi Donnan, Caoirse Doherty and Cora Chambers (pictured) all found the net.
Chambers added her second and Sion’s fifth with 12 minutes remaining with a calm and composed finish after rounding Lisburn goalkeeper Jessica Poots.
Stacey Murdough pulled a deserved consolation goal back for the hosts in injury time, doing well to hold off defensive challenges before finding the net.
At a glance results and goalscorers from last night's games:
Cliftonville Ladies 6-0 Derry City Women (Maxwell ‘8, Finnegan ’14, Callaghan ’15, ’60, C McGuinness ’57, ‘81)
Crusaders Strikers 1-1 Linfield Ladies (Nelson ’81; Bassett ’38)
Lisburn Ladies 1-5 Sion Swifts Ladies (Murdough ’90; Rooney og ’20, Donnan ’25, Doherty ’34, Chambers ’36, ‘78)