Sion Swifts win ten-goal thriller with Cliftonville

Sion won a pulsating end-to-end encounter at Solitude against Cliftonville which ended in a scarcely believable 6-4 win for the hosts.

Star forward Kirsty McGuinness was once again the star for Sion - having netted in Northern Ireland’s win at Faroe Islands last week - as she grabbed a hat-trick.

Erin Fildara, Kerry Brown and Leontia McVarnock were also on the scoresheet for Tony McGinley’s side, who were made to sweat by a Cliftonville team with plenty of attacking threat of their own.

Claire Rooney scored the first for the hosts and despite the Reds adding another before the break, substitute Megan Moran was dismissed in the second half.

However, despite being 5-2 down at the time they kept battling; Marissa Callaghan netted twice - including a spot kick - and created more opportunities but fell to a 6-4 loss.

There were plenty of goals in Derry too but they were all for one side as Linfield ran out 7-0 victors at the Brandywell.

Casey Howe was the star of the show for the Blues as she grabbed a laudable five goals, while Rebecca McKenna and Ebony Lecky were also on target in the rout.

Glentoran edged out Crusaders Strikers 1-0 at The Oval as Northern Ireland international Kerry Beattie scored the only goal of the game in the 64th minute.

The round of action means Sion Swifts still lead the way at the top of the table with 12 points from five matches, but the cluster of teams below them still have a game in hand.

Linfield and Glentoran are locked on 9 points each while Crusaders, Cliftonville and Derry City are on 6, 3 and 0 respectively.

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