Barnaby and Sion eyeing up cup double

HAVING banked one trophy by winning the NIWFA Championship League Cup in spectacular fashion last weekend, Sion Swifts Ladies are gunning for further knockout glory on Saturday when they lock horns with Ballymena United Women in the final of the NIWFA Local Women Sports Super Cup.

Sion captured the League Cup by defeating league champions St James Swifts 4-3 at Moyola Park’s Mill Meadow on Saturday evening.

Teen Hannah Gibson, who scored all four of Sion’s goals, grabbed a stoppage-time winner to decide the seven-goal thriller for the north Tyrone side to secure their first silverware of the season.

Seven days on, Christy Barnaby’s team are aiming for further silverware success. And, while Sion, who were disappointed to finish runners-up in the league, will start as slight favourities, the manager insists his players will have to be at their very best to defeat a decent Ballymena outfit.

The Braid women finished fifth in the Championship and the last time the sides met Sion had to work extremely hard to record a 2-0 victory.

Barnaby expects another challenging contest and will be warning his players against complacency when the sides lock horns at HW Welders’ Blanchflower Stadium on Saturday evening.

“We will be favourites on the grounds that we beat them the last time we played and after defeating St James Swifts Ladies in the League Cup final,” said the Swifts supremo.

“The key for us is to guard against complacency and that’s the message from me, we’ll have to earn it.

“They will also be fresh not having played for a number of weeks although the fact that we have been playing regularly hopefully means we’ll be that bit sharper.”

Should Sion lift the Sports Super Cup – the most prized knockout silverware outside the Irish Cup – it will go down as yet another successful season.

While Barnaby’s team finished runners-up in the league, and, as a consequence, missed out on a return to the Premiership, a cup double would still be considered a season to proud of. Saturday’s showpiece decider kicks-off at 7.45pm.

FULL STORY IN TOMORROW’S STRABANE CHRONICLE