Irish League Football

Image source, Presseye

Cliftonville Ladies inflicted a heavy 7-0 defeat on Lisburn Ladies at the Bluebell Stadium in Friday night's Women's Premiership game.

Derry City defeated Larne by the same scoreline at the Brandywell and Crusaders drew 2-2 with Lisburn Rangers at Seaview.

Louise McDaniel grabbed a hat-trick for Cliftonville, with Caitlin McGuinness on target twice and Danielle Maxwell and Kirsty McGuinness netting a goal apiece in an emphatic win for the Reds.

McDaniel opened the scoring inside eight minutes before Maxwell doubled the lead by racing onto Lucy Kelly's ball over the top and finishing confidently.

McDaniel struck again before the break and completed her treble with a fine individual effort after the restart.

Caitlin McGuinness added her two goals before Kirsty McGuinness rounded off the scoring in stoppage time.

Derry City secured an equally comprehensive victory thanks to doubles from Caoirse Doherty, Rachel McIntyre and Cache Crumlish-Hawes, plus a solitary goal from Rihanna Ferris.

Doherty gave the hosts the lead with an excellent first touch before finishing from close range after McIntyre's delivery, and the pair combined again as McIntyre's surging run from deep set up Doherty's second.

McIntyre then netted two of her own, first finishing calmly after racing onto a perfectly weighted through ball before converting at the back post from a well-worked corner.

Ferris added a fifth early in the second half before turning provider twice for Crumlish-Hawes to finish at the far post and complete the rout.

All the goals at Seaview came in the final quarter of the game as Alison Nelson put the home side in front on 70 minutes, only for Molly Loughran to restore parity seven minutes later.

An unfortunate Abbie Smyth own goal was then cancelled out by a late leveller for Rangers from Anastasija Stanyte in the 90th minute.

Image source, Presseye

Larne will face either FC Iberia 1999 Tbilisi or Slovan Bratislava should they lose to Red Star Belgrade in Champions League qualifying.

The Irish Premiership champions face the 1990-91 European Cup winners in the second round of qualifying with the first leg of their tie at Inver Park on Tuesday, 21 July (20:00 BST), with the second leg away from home on Wednesday, 29 July (19:00 BST).

Should Gary Haveron's side fail to progress to the next round of the the premier competition, they will face the losers of FC Iberia 1999's tie against Slovan Bratislava in the third qualifying round of the Europa League.

In the Conference League, Irish Cup winners Coleraine would face either Motherwell or Faroese side HB in the third qualifying round should they progress past HJK Helsinki.

The Bannsiders are in Finland for the first leg on Thursday (17:00 BST) before hosting the return fixture on 30 July (19:45 BST).

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Celtic have signed Northern Ireland defender Fi Morgan from Cliftonville.

The 22-year-old came through the Reds academy and made her senior debut in 2019.

Morgan, who made over 100 appearances for Cliftonville, won two Women's Premiership titles, two Irish Cups, four League Cups and a County Antrim Cup during her time with the north Belfast club.

She has also won three caps for Northern Ireland and the centre-back will link up with international teammate Casey Howe at the Hoops after she joined Grant Scott's side from Nottingham Forest earlier in the transfer window.

Image source, Press Eye

Linfield midfielder Megan Bell has been named June's player of the month by the Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association.

Bell rejoined the Blues last season after spells at Durham, Hearts, Rangers and Nottingham Forest and has played a vital role in Ryan McConville's side sitting top of the table this campaign.

The 25-year-old scored a hat-trick when Linfield beat Crusaders Strikers 9-1 and also netted during their 8-1 win over Lisburn Ladies.

"It means a lot. We had a good month as a team and I was happy to contribute," Bell said.

"We've had a good start, but it is still very early on in the season.

"We don't want to get too carried away. We go into every game wanting to win and we'll see where it takes us at the end of the season."

It was also a successful month for Bell on the international stage after she scored her fourth international goal for Northern Ireland during their World Cup qualifying defeat against Turkey.

Bell added that she is "more like myself" as she aims to help the Blues continue their title chase.

"It took me a while to find my feet but I'm feeling more like myself every week," Bell continued.

"I'm very happy and I think playing every week helps with that."

Lauren McCann
BBC Sport NI Journalist

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Linfield manager David Healy said reports linking him to the Shelbourne job was "people putting two and two together and coming up with any number they want".

Shelbourne announced on Monday that Sligo Rovers manager John Russell has signed a long-term contract to become their new head coach.

That news followed reports that Healy, who has been at the helm at the Blues since 2015, had reportedly held talks with the League of Ireland club, something which he refuted.

"I've huge respect for Shelbourne as a football club, I've been down to Shelbourne with Ross [Oliver, assistant manager] and Willie [McKeown, head of recruitment] a few weeks ago in preparation of us getting through this round [of the Conference League] and it was important to see them. That's what it was," he told BBC Sport NI.

"When you go down you sit with associates and club members, scouts and agents, but it doesn't mean you're sitting chatting about other things.

"There wasn't any communication club to club, it was people putting two and two together and coming up with any number they want."

Linfield could face Shelbourne in the second round of Conference League qualifying if they can progress past Nomme Kalju.

The Estonians have a slender 1-0 advantage heading into the second leg in Belfast on Thursday, but Healy is confident his team can turn around that deficit at Windsor Park and set up a third European meeting with Shels in the space of a year.

"Looking at last week, probably still tinged with a little bit of disappointment and frustration because I thought we were good value for at least a draw in the game," Healy added.

"We had good opportunities which we passed up and in European games they're crucial. There's still the belief in how we can play and make Windsor hard for them."

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Aberdeen manager Stephen Robinson says he is "not surprised" Linfield boss David Healy has been linked with the vacant Shelbourne job.

Healy has been at the helm at the Blues since 2015, winning six league titles, two Irish Cups and four League Cups over his decade in charge, but has reportedly held talks , externalwith the League of Ireland club about replacing Joey O'Brien, who was sacked in June.

The former Northern Ireland striker did not speak to the media after Linfield's 2-0 friendly defeat against the Dons at Windsor Park, but Robinson believes Healy is ready for the next step following his trophy-laden spell at the Blues should he decide to move onto pastures new.

"Linfield fans won't thank me for saying this but I'm not surprised he's linked with jobs," Robinson told BBC Sport NI.

"He has had a terrific career here, won trophies every single year he has been here. The money in Irish football now is big and it's hard for them to keep competing, but you look at his teams and the players he is developing and there's absolutely no surprise to me that he is linked with options."

Shelbourne begin their European campaign with a Uefa Conference League tie on Thursday 23 July and ironically, they will play against either Nomme Kalju or Healy's Linfield.

The Estonians have a slender 1-0 advantage heading into the second leg in Belfast on Thursday.

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Lisburn Rangers scored a 90th-minute winner to beat Cliftonville 4-3 at Solitude, while Linfield and Glentoran drew 2-2 in the Premiership.

Caoimhe Gleston opened the scoring after just five minutes in sunny north Belfast before Hannah Doherty levelled the game.

The away side restored their lead in the 27th minute, but Doherty equalised once again and Caitlin McGuinness then fired the Reds in front.

However, an own goal from stopper Maddy Harvey Clifford levelled the end-to-end match on 58 minutes.

Both sides continued to push for another goal with Grace Murray grabbing the late winner to secure the three points for Lisburn Rangers and inflict a first defeat of the league campaign on Cliftonville less than a week after they won a fourth consecutive Women's League Cup.

Elsewhere, at Midgley Park, defending Premiership champions Glentoran are now without a win in their last three games after they drew with rivals Linfield, who remain top of the table.

The result comes after Glens manager Kim Turner said that 'scheduling of fixtures was really poor and unfair' for her side.

Megan Bell gave the Blues an early lead with Sophie McKnight doubling their advantage from close range before Demi Vance halved their lead before the break.

On 65 minutes, Linfield failed to clear a free-kick into the box with Mia Moore producing a lovely finish to split the points.

Jana McCabe
BBC Sport NI journalist

Image source, Inpho

Glentoran manager Declan Devine said his side will "take huge confidence" into the second leg of their Conference League first round qualifier against RFS.

The Glens were narrowly defeated 2-1 by RFS during a tight first leg at the Oval with debutant Zeno Rossi breaking the deadlock before Martins Kigurs netted twice for the away side.

Devine's side will now attempt to overturn the one-goal deficit when they travel to Latvia for the second leg on 16 July.

"All in all, a positive night, nobody wants to lose, it's only half-time," Devine told BBC Sport NI.

"I was super proud of the players and the effort that they've put in. Their two goals are huge slices of good luck in it. I thought we defended brilliantly and I thought hit them on the counter-attack. I thought our game plan worked really well.

"We were solid, we needed to be solid. We asked questions of them, especially late in the half, the second half. All the boys should take huge credit and confidence going into Latvia."

It was a whirlwind day for Rossi, who it was announced had joined the east Belfast club just hours before the first leg.

The defender made a superb start to his debut and gave the Glens the lead in the tie after seven minutes.

"I think Zeno coming in for his debut, having trained with the team once, and scoring on his debut and putting on the performance that he put on, deserves huge credit," Devine continued.

"He was the only one in our whole squad that has 90 minutes under their belts since probably the end of March.

"We've got to recover well. We've got to take confidence that they're holding on for dear life at the end, trying to kill time. We have a huge travelling support when we're going to Riga. Game on."