Larne Ladies aiming for Cup glory

Last month they clinched the ONE 1918 Senior League 3 championship with an emphatic 7-0 victory over Coleraine and James Dodworth’s side will be aiming to lift another title by defeating the north-west outfit at Civil Service.

The local side have enjoyed a remarkable high-scoring and undefeated league campaign. And their scoring touch hasn’t deserted them in the cup run either; they have netted a fantastic 19 goals in just four rounds to book their spot in the final.

In the opening round they put five past North Down without reply before defeating Annadale 5-1 at the next hurdle. At the quarter-final stages they enjoyed home advantage against rivals Ballyclare Ladies II as they eased to a 4-1 win. It was a much tighter affair in a nine-goal semi-final thriller. Larne were in cruise control as they went 4-1 up against Banbridge, only for the Co Down girls to pull three goals back in a dramatic last 15 minutes. The game went to a golden goal and, much to the relief of everyone connected with the East Antrim club, Laura Radcliffe settled matters with a winning strike after just 35 seconds.

Larne this week prepared for the final with league wins over rivals Owls (2-1) and Holywood (4-0).

Speaking to the Times, club skipper Gillian Russell said the girls are confident they can get the job done on Saturday.

“It’s a cup final so it’s obviously going to be close. Limavady are last year’s beaten finalists so they will be out to prove a point.

“But we can’t wait for the match – it’s what we’ve played for all season. We have trained hard every Wednesday night and a lot of hard work has gone into our unbeaten campaign.”

Full story and player profiles in this week’s Larne Times