GLENTORAN captain Jess Foy’s day job may involve moulding future players and supporters of Cliftonville Ladies but she’s determined to see the Reds beaten tonight.
Having been a PE teacher at her alma mater of Our Lady & St Patrick’s, Knock, she moved this year to Dominican College in Fortwilliam, north Belfast, and has already introduced soccer coaching there.
“I started up last week. They brought out years 8 to 10 and I had 68 kids in front of me - I thought ‘This is class!’. I’m really enjoying it.”
The first meeting of the season with Cliftonville certainly wasn’t enjoyable, though, as Foy recalls: “We were 2-0 up and ended up losing 4-2. We had that kind of sick feeling, that it was one we let go.”
However, the Glens have shown their champion quality since then, bouncing back brilliantly by only dropping points in two more matches, a draw with Linfield and a surprise loss at Sion Swifts, while also wreaking revenge repeatedly on the Reds, recording four wins in various competitions:
“After that we played them twice in the league and won both of those games well. We beat them in the [County Antrim] Cup as well.
“But the most recent game, in the Irish Cup semi-final, was the tightest. We only won 2-1 and they had a penalty opportunity [which was saved].
“This will be extremely tight, we know we’ll have to work for it. It won’t go off any previous performances we’ve put in.”
Yet those defeats to Glentoran have been the only league losses for the much-improved Reds, and they too have drawn just once, also against Linfield, so the holders are only top of the table on goal difference.
That means, in this penultimate round, victory for either side at the Oval (7.45pm) would almost assure them of the new NIFL Danske Bank Women’s Premiership trophy.
Foy is happy with that scenario, saying: “Off the back of winning the league last year, in a shorter season, our goal this year was to put ourselves in the best position possible that we were competing in the league and cup finals.
“We see it as a privilege to have a massive game against Cliftonville to potentially win the league, then the two weeks after that to be in two cup finals.
“We had a few hiccups towards the start of the season but with it being a longer season we knew we just had to keep focussing on the next game - we knew if we did that we’d be in a good position come the end of the year, which fortunately we are.”
This clash is almost a Northern Ireland squad reunion, with seven Glens - Jackie Burns, Chloe McCarron, Nadene Caldwell, Lauren Wade, Kerry Beattie, Caragh Hamilton, and Danielle Maxwell on Kenny Shiels’s panel last week - along with five Reds, namely international captain Marissa Callaghan, sisters Kirsty and Caitlin McGuinness, Louise McDaniel, and Kelsie Burrows.
Both sides boast serious firepower, indeed Callaghan, Kirsty McGuinness, and Callaghan all netted in that NI win over Latvia. Kerry Beattie started up front and she and fellow 19-year-old Joely Andrews have been banging in the goals for Glentoran.
Foy praises them highly, but points out: “That’s one of the fantastic things about our team this year. When we looked at our scorers’ list, there were so many who’ve been on the scoresheet.
“We’re not relying on one or two players, that’s maybe where our strength is this year, the depth in our squad. We can rely on almost anyone to put the ball in the back of the net.”
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