Sion Mills is renowned for its fabulous cricketing exploits. As well as the home team’s many successes over the years it was on the village ground that Ireland humiliated the World’s greatest team, West Indies, on an extraordinary day back in 1969, limiting them to 25 runs to go on to win by 9 wickets. Incredible! Not the same magnitude off course, but teenage sensations Swifts are gradually building a reputation in Northern Ireland ladies soccer.
They were last year’s Division Four double winners on their entry into the League and are set to repeat the feat in Division Three. But Irish Cup winners! Surely not! What a wonderful addition they are to the League. Will this be their Cup swansong? Probably – but haven’t they been a breath of fresh air in the competition.
Division Two’s 1st Bangor knew their trip to Melvin was a fearful one, especially facing one of the League’s most prolific scorers in Lauren Brennan, who scored a total of ten goals in her side’s three previous Cup games. It was her double that platformed Sion’s final 4-0 victory following a nervy first half that remained scoreless, albeit the Ards side living dangerously as the woodwork came to their aid on a number of occasions.
It wasn’t all one-way though as home ‘keeper Grace Quinn and defenders Aimee McGinley and Alana McShane battled furiously to repel some lively visiting attacks. Kelly Crompton’s arrowed pass on the hour to cut a passage for Brennan tilted the balance. On her current form it was only a matter of where in the net the Swifts’ sharpshooter would place the ball. Less than five minutes later she destroyed the 1st Bangor’s challenge, again netting with precision.
Player of the match Maria Quinn deservedly played a part in Sion’s third goal, parting an opening for Jessica Moorhead to fire in from an acute angle. An o.g. compounded 1st Bangor misery as Swifts became the only team outside the Premier Division to remain in the Cup.
Valiant Mid Ulster exited the Cup as mighty Glentoran journeyed to the semi-finals. But the Tyrone ladies didn’t depart submissively; instead producing a resolute and tenacious performance to turn the tie into a genuine duel that gathered pace as the match wore on. Although crippled two minutes into play by a shock Catherine O’Hagan goal, there must have been fears of an execution, but far from shriveling Mid Ulster showed great heart in a fearless bid to upset the odds.
With the pressure immediately lifted from them, it was expected that Glentoran would go on to dominate the game but, progressively tamed by a Claire Rooney-inspired defence, they began to malfunction up front. As Mid Ulster clung on, they might even have sneaked a goal or two had Simone Magill and Chloe Barnes been more fortunate with fleeting opportunities,
Kelly Baillie’s scrambled goal following a corner kick shortly before the break finally steadied the jittery Glens. It was a knife in Mid Ulster hearts. There may have been sporadic raids on the Glentoran goal as Magill and Adele Gillespie burst forward to stir the home crowd, the occasional flash of sorcery by perpetual motion midfielder Haley O’Donnell and good, old-fashioned physical bouts as Mykylea Stewart combated with courage but it was Glentoran who were in charge. They don’t surrender two-goal leads. Usually overall superior class prevails. And that’s precisely what happened.
The Cup holders weathered the Mid Ulster storm without over elaboration, dedicated to the task of retaining their crown. They may have been stretched at times by the exuberant home side, but that lightning O’Hagan goal was a critical buffer and they knew it. From that moment on the winners had already been declared.
Kirsty McGuinness is Linfield’s most dangerous raider. Valley Rangers were warned of her scoring power. They knew they had to put her in chains. They couldn’t, she notched a hat-trick and the Blues bypassed what many deemed to be an uncomfortable contest in Kilkeel with surprising ease. True, the Mourne ladies were huge underdogs, but their summer adventure has made a mockery of their Division Two status. Their impressive Cup bubble burst though in cruel fashion, humbled 6-1 by a Blues team anxious not to fall into any Cup trap. Further goals from Nicola Gray, Codie Bruton and an o.g. sounded a superb Linfield victory.
Newry City may be a major power in Division Four, but the Premier’s Crusaders Strikers are light years ahead and proved it in a Cup cruise at the Newry Showgrounds with a 4-0 victory. In Northern Ireland international Helen McKenna they possess a superb player and she turned in a Player of the Match performance, highlighted by two goals to snuff out the South Down team’s challenge. Danielle McDowell and Lynsay Patterson joined her as the Crues entered the semis.
Helen Mckenna And Roy Cathcart (chairman Of Womens Coca Cola Cup)
Helen Mckenna
