Cliftonville one step from European history after remarkable extra-time win over Mitrovica
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Belfast Telegraph
3 hours ago
- Belfast Telegraph
Cliftonville's Champions League dream ended as quickfire double sets Lanchkhuti up for victory
The Reds will look back with regret on a crazy 60 seconds 10 minutes into the second half that proved costly to their quest to be the first Irish League club to progress beyond the first round of the competition. Georgian champions Lanchkhuti struck twice in that whirlwind spell, first through international midfielder Anano Tsikaridze and then Eter Sulashvili, leaving Cliftonville with a major task to turn the game around in sweltering 28 degree heat. Abbie Magee struck to halve the deficit just as the game hit 90 minutes and deep in injury time, as the Solitude girls pushed desperately for an equaliser, she brought a save from goalkeeper Tatia Gabunia, but that wasn't enough to prevent a 2-1 defeat. While the Reds did achieve a first win in European competition when they defeated Kosovan title winners Mitrovica on Wednesday, ultimately there were unable to complete the job that they had gone to Kosovo to do. The absence of experienced former Northern Ireland international Kirsty McGuinness was undoubtedly a factor for the Reds. The departures of other internationals since they won the League title last October has left Cliftonville short of strength in depth, but they are still strong with their best team on the pitch and, with McGuinness missing through suspension after being shown two yellow cards in the 3-1 extra-time win over Mitrovica, they weren't at full strength and her pace, quality and goal scoring threat were missed. Adding to the frustration will be the fact that Cliftonville had started the game well, had enjoyed the majority of possession and even had a shot from Caitlin McGuinness that came back off a post, until a late spell of pressure from Lanchkhuti in the first half followed by those goals early in the second completely changed to complexion of the game. Caitlin McGuinness and Carla Devine had chances early on but failed to trouble the goalkeeper, and when Lanchkhuti did pose the first real danger just before the half hour mark Rachel Norney got down at her near post to save. Teegan Lynch had a shot saved at the opposite end, just before that close call when McGuinness hit the woodwork, before the Reds survived a late first-half rally when Sulashvili's effort came back off crossbar and then the same player brought a save from Norney in quick succession. Lanchkhuti started the second half just as they finished the first and stunned Cliftonville twice in as many minutes, with defensive errors contributing to both goal as Tsikaridze scored the first on 55 minutes and Sulashvili really dented the Reds' hope with the second goal just a minute later. The game would have been over had Norney not prevented Sulashvili from scoring a third six minutes later. As it was, the Reds were still just about alive as the clock ticked down and they carved out opportunities. Naomi McLaughlin had a shot saved when she went through one-on-one with Tatia Gabunia and then had a shot from distance that the goalkeeper dealt with comfortably. When Marissa Callaghan fired wide it looked like the final chance had gone, but there was still more to come from Cliftonville. Magee stuck to give them a glimmer of a chance and with five minutes of added time indicated there was hope that an equaliser would come, but when Gabunia then denied Magee a second those hopes were crushed and the chance of history was gone. CLIFTONVILLE: Norney, Magee, Burrows, Morgan, O McGuinness, Carleton, Lynch, Callaghan, McLaughlin, C McGuinness, Devine (O'Neill 77). Unused subs: Bradley, McAllister, Markey, Gallagher, Thompson, Cunningham. LANCHKHUTI: Gabunia, Matveeva, Tsikaridze, Sulashvili (Smith Powell 67), Camargo Isaza, Russel, Murillo, Tsulaia (Dimopoulou 83), Telles Ortiz (Gujabidze 83), Chkhartishvili, Girchits (Chichinadze 71).
Belfast Telegraph
3 days ago
- Belfast Telegraph
Cliftonville one step from European history after remarkable extra-time win over Mitrovica
Carla Devine came off the bench to score a hat-trick in a 3-1 success over Kosovan side Mitrovica and now they will take on Lanchkhuti of Georgia in the tournament final on Saturday.
BBC News
24-07-2025
- BBC News
Larne display 'like night and day'
Larne manager Nathan Rooney reflected on a "night and day performance in terms of the first and second half" by his side after they drew 0-0 with Kosovan team Pristina in the first leg of their Uefa Conference League second qualifying round season's Irish Premiership runners-up twice cleared efforts off the line in the second half while goalkeeper Rohan Ferguson denied Leutrim Kryeziu on two occasions with fine saves."We didn't come out for the second half at all," bemoaned the Larne boss after the game at Ballymena Showgrounds."We just seemed to force the play and come away from what we are really good at."We didn't take our chances at the vital times so hopefully we can get back to the form we showed in the first half going into next week [the second leg in Prishtina on 31 July]."They got a little bit of possession in that first 10 or 15 minutes of the second half and that rattled us a little bit but we changed formation to get us through the game in good fashion and that's what we did."Rooney says that his charges will regroup for a testing second leg."They're athletic, they grew into the game so it's going to be a tough task over there but we'll put a plan in place and give it everything."We'll freshen up. I've seen tonight that the squad is quite tired, especially after the hour mark, so we'll put in some planning and preparation over the next 24 hours to see how that looks."
