Women's Premiership: How Cliftonville won their first title

Cliftonville won their maiden Women's Premiership title on Wednesday

There will be a new name on the Women's Premiership trophy after Cliftonville wrapped up their first title with a game to spare against north Belfast rivals Crusaders Strikers on Wednesday.

There were wild celebrations after the final whistle, with champagne and a boom box brought onto the pitch as the party warmed up.

It has been a long and winding road for the Solitude side, with near misses and heartbreak leading up to their triumphant moment.

It is a success that has been a long time coming, but how did the Reds do it? Let's hear from the players who made history.

Key signings in key areas

Cliftonville have recruited in the right areas, brining in experienced personel and the squad is now littered with international experience.

Sisters Kirsty and Caitlin McGuinness were brought in with fellow Northern Ireland international Louise McDaniel ahead of the 2021 season, and the Reds have since added Danielle Maxwell, Vicky Carleton, Abbie Magee and Kelsie Burrows.

It's not just been the big names who have helped Cliftonville to the title, as Toni-Leigh Finnegan, Grace McKimm, Fionnuala Morgan, Erin Montgomery and Rachael Norney a number of youngsters who have been integral to the Reds' success.

The intorudiction of youth and impressive recruitment adds to the experienced heads of captain Megan Moran, Marissa Callaghan and Yasmin White.

"At the beginning of the season we strengthened the team a lot. We got a few new players in and we all gelled really well," said McDaniel.

"I think everyone offers something different and that has really benefitted us.

"We have a mixture of players and we have good depth in the squad. When we have needed to look elsewhere, like younger players, they have been able to step up so it has been really good."

Using previous hurt

Glentoran beat Cliftonville to win the title last season - but now things have flipped

After a difficult campaign in 2019 and again in 2020, where the Reds won only 10 matches out of the 28 that they played, things took a big step forward in the last campaign.

Cliftonville narrowly missed out on the title to all-conquoring Glentoran but it was a resurgent showing from the Solitude side.

"Obviously last year was a blow, but I think we needed to remember in that time that we were only a new team," McDaniel said.

"That was our building season and we done really well.

"The hurt is obviously there and we did fall just short, but this season we have been really good and we have strengthened the squad so that has helped us a lot."

Caitlin McGuinness

Caitlin McGuinness was in superb form for Cliftonville

Cliftonville's pursuit of a maiden title was relentless, and leading that charge was Caitlin McGuinness, who has netted 20 goals in 16 games to be miles clear in the goalscoring charts.

Despite only being 20, she carried that confidence onto the international stage and was unlucky not to score in September's final World Cup qualifiers, hitting the bar against Luxembourg.

"I love playing with Caitlin. Personally, I think she is the best striker in the league," midfielder McDaniel added.

"Anything you put in front of her, if she is one-on-one with the goalkeeper you know she is going to score.

"Playing those passes as a midfielder, I know if I can get it to her then is going to put it in the back of the net.

"It puts less pressure on me when she scores them all, I just have to give them to her."

Tight bond

Seven Cliftonville players - Kelsie Burrows, Marissa Callaghan, Kirsty McGuinness, Louise McDaniel, Caitlin McGuinness & Abbie Magee - featured at the Euro 2022 finals

While the team has a strong cohesion on the pitch, off the pitch a lot of the players are close friends and there is a visible bond, which was extremely evident in the celebrations that took place at Seaview.

"We are such a close team and the majority of us play together internationally," said McDaniel.

"Even the younger players coming through, everyone gets along and we are all one big team. That can only help us grow and the cohesion on the pitch, you can tell everyone is really getting along.

"We all get along and we are all friends outside of football and would socialise together. We will go for coffee on ours days off and stuff, we are always round each other so that has to help things."

Defender Kelsie Burrows added: "To win it with all my friends here, I can call them sisters, it is unbelievable.

"It makes it so much easier to play, we make each other better players and it makes it easier to play."

Management and mentality

After three years of domination of the local game, Glentoran's superb run came to an end after a season where they failed to hit the heights of their previous title-winning campaigns.

When the Glens faltered, Cliftonville were there to capitalise - and a lot of that is down to the management team of John McGrady, Clare Carson and Brendan Lynch.

It was none more evident than on Wednesday when, with both sides needing to win, Glentoran stuttered to a 2-2 draw with Linfield while Cliftonville bounced back from a controversial offside call and a scare to secure the title with a game remaining.

"It's hard to believe, to be honest. What a night," said Callaghan after the Reds wrapped up the title.

"What an amazing season we have had. The last couple of years we have relly stepped it up and all credit has to go to our management team, because two years ago we were on our knees.

"We almost had no senior women's team, it was that bad, but they have come in and transformed the culture. It's absolutely amazing."