McGinley wants his players to finish season with a flourish

SION Swifts boss Tony McGinley wants his players to finish the season with a flourish and secure a place in the top three of the Sports Direct Women’s Premiership.

Sion are currently fourth, two points behind Crusaders but with a game in hand, as the season enters the final straight.

Swifts play Crusaders on Friday evening and face fifth-placed Linfield at the end of the month. Winning those two games would go a long way in McGinley and his players achieving that objective.

Following Thursday evening’s League Cup Final defeat to Cliftonville, McGinley quickly turned the focus on the remaining league games.

“We got to pick ourselves up. Our aim at the start of the season was to try and finish in third place and that remains the objective. That’s still a real possibility,” he said.

“We want to improve on our league position from last year and we are probably in the driving seat to achieve that.

“Our next two league games will go a long way in determining that.

“Cups are a bonus. Of course we have Glentoran in the semi-final of the Irish Cup; they don’t get any easier! But that’s the level we’re at, that’s the bar, and it’s about how do we get close to that.

“There are another eight teams who would have loved to be in our position tonight.

“If we can finish the season in third, reached a cup final and Irish Cup semi-final as the worse case scenario, that’s progress and something to build on again.”

Reflecting on the 3-1 defeat in last week’s League Cup decider at Stangmore Park, McGinley admitted it was tough going against a star-studded Cliftonville side.

Caitlin McGuinness scored twice in the first half to put the Reds in the driving seat at the interval. Kerry Brown pulled a goal back but Cliftonville effectively closed the tie out with McGuinness completing her sparkling hat-trick.

“We were looking for that opportunity to get back in the game and we grabbed it when Kerry (Brown) scores the free kick,” continued McGinley.

“But we just couldn’t find a way to push on, to grab the initiative. It was difficult, their midfield caused us a lot of trouble, all technically good players.

“We battled, we upped the energy levels but we just didn’t get to grips with them. We couldn’t get on top, to ask some more questions, which was needed.”