Yahoo Sports Irish Cup success would be 'icing on the cake'
Cliftonville defender Toni Leigh Finnegan says a first Irish Cup success for the club since 2015 would put "the icing on the cake" of a successful season for the north Belfast club, who have already won the Women's Premiership and the League Cup.
The Reds will seek to emulate the achievement of their male counterparts at the same venue in May when they face Lisburn Rangers at Windsor Park on Saturday night (19:00 BST kick-off, live on BBC iPlayer, the BBC Sport website and app from 18:45).
After winning the league with an unblemished league record of 15 wins from 15 matches, a domestic treble is on the line for Cliftonville this weekend.
"We’re a team of winners and we want to win this as well," Finnegan told BBC sport NI.
"We’re at a high point and we’re really excited going into it. We hope we’ve done our homework properly and prepped well so hopefully we’ll get our hands on the trophy.
“The mood is good, we’ve had a really good preparation week. You can’t top winning the league but the Irish Cup would be the icing on the cake for us.”
Cliftonville's sole defeat to date this season came courtesy of a 2-1 County Antrim Cup final loss to Glentoran, who also saw off the Reds in last season's Irish Cup decider.
"We were hurt last year, getting beaten by Glentoran, but that can only push us and give us a bit of fire to make sure that doesn’t happen again come Saturday," reflected Finnegan.
"We got beaten in the County Antrim final but after that I think we just regrouped as a team and looked at how we were going to react going forward and get more success throughout the season."
Any notion that the league champions might have cause to be complacent coming into the final was dispelled when the sides met recently in the Premiership.
"We played them [Lisburn Rangers] a few weeks ago in the league and it was only 3-2 and we scored in the 89th minute so that was a close result. We know they are a decent side and they can put it up to us and work hard for 90 minutes," said Finnegan.
Cliftonville got the better of Lisburn Rangers in the League Cup final, with the league newcomers also finishing in a very creditable fourth place in their first term in the top flight.
"Lisburn Rangers are a team full of incredible young players but getting the treble for the first time in our history would be amazing," said Finnegan's Cliftonville team-mate Marissa Callaghan.
"I think it’s something we would deserve, we work really hard as a group. I hope we can do it, not only for ourselves, but for our fans, our families and the club as well."
