Avenir Sports All Island Cup final
Cliftonville v Galway United (Sunday, Sligo Showgrounds, 3pm)
CLIFTONVILLE Ladies have the chance on Sunday to add the ‘champions of Ireland’ tag to their Irish League champions’ status when they play Galway United in the inaugural Avenir All-Island Cup final in Sligo.
The Reds beat Cork City 1-0 in the semi-final, having topped a qualifying group that included Sligo Rovers, Sion Swifts and Bohemians.
Coach Clare Carson had a challenging week with a number of team members away with the senior Northern Ireland squad, but she feels her side are singing in perfect harmony leading up to Sunday’s final.
“Preparation is not so straight-forward when international breaks come about because we are fortunate enough to have so many capped players,” she said.
“However, it gave the rest of the squad some space to refresh mentally and physically and I was also involved in an NI U21 camp which was great as it allowed me to gauge the future talent on the pathway to the senior set-up,
and I must say I have been impressed.
“We’re now at the end of the week and all the squad is back together and it doesn’t take long before we are singing off the same hymnsheet and getting excited for the weekend.”
The Solitude side sit second in the Sports Direct Women’s Premiership, six points behind leaders Glentoran and level on points with third-placed Sion Swifts.
They have scored a huge tally of 56 goals in the campaign so far, conceding only five, and that makes them formidable opponents tomorrow.
Galway knocked-out Wexford Youths on penalties in the last four and overcame Linfield, Shelbourne and Athlone Town to top their group and Carson is not taking the side placed fifth in the League of Ireland, lightly.
“We have watched all their All-Island games and know they didn’t get to the final by chance, they are a good side,” she said.
“It will be a big challenge for us. They like to play football, so it’s up to us to prepare as best we can,” she says.
The cross-border competition appears to have been a success in its first edition, with all the sides involved playing strong teams, something that wasn’t always the case in the men’s version a decade ago. Carson is enthusiastic about what a win on Sunday would mean.
“Obviously it would be great to say we are the first all-island champions,” she said.
“I think the tournament has been a great platform to showcase the quality throughout the teams on the island of Ireland and has been a great advert for both leagues as a product.”
Tomorrow’s final has led to a rearrangement of the scheduled League Cup final, which was due to take place between Cliftonville and Sion at Stangmore Park, Dungannon.
A new date for that fixture has not been confirmed but it could be delayed until the end of August.
