Sun 20 Sep 2026, 8:42
Chloe McCarron is targeting another ‘Big Two’ victory as Glentoran aim to maintain the pressure on Cliftonville at the top of the Sports Direct Women’s Premiership when they face Linfield on Sunday (kick-off 4.30pm).
The Glens welcome the Blues to Blanchflower Stadium for their first game following the split, having recorded a 4-2 victory over their rivals in the final fixture of the regular league season a fortnight ago.
With five points separating the east Belfast side from leaders Cliftonville, McCarron knows there can be no margin for error during the run-in.
“We have three league games left and, obviously, our last match is against Cliftonville, so our aim has to be to keep the title race alive until then,” said the midfielder.
“Unfortunately, it is a little out of our hands because we need Cliftonville to drop points somewhere along the way, but we cannot focus on that.
“All we can do is take care of ourselves because, if we do not win our games, it is irrelevant what happens elsewhere.
“That is our sole focus. We have to put ourselves in a position where we can take advantage if there is a slip-up by the Reds.
“We are both going to face the same teams during the final three games, which is good, and the matches against Linfield and Lisburn Rangers will be tough.
“But we will go into these final three games full of confidence because we have been in good form lately.
“We have lost only twice in our last 10 games and scored 31 goals during that period, so we are performing well.
“Of course, we are disappointed to have dropped points against Cliftonville, but we cannot change that now.
“What we can do is finish the campaign strongly and push Cliftonville all the way. That is what we intend to do, and we will see where it takes us.”
Glentoran have faced Linfield four times already this season, recording three victories and one draw.
McCarron insists, however, that those previous meetings will count for nothing on Sunday.
“We have come out on the right side of the results against Linfield so far this season, but everything that has gone before will mean nothing on Sunday,” she said.
“We beat them in both the Irish Cup and the Sports Direct Women’s League Cup, as well as in our most recent league meeting, but every game has been very closely contested.
“You only have to think back to our first league meeting at Midgley Park. They were leading 2-0 and we had to dig deep to come away with a point.
“We had to do the same in our most recent meeting a couple of weeks ago. They led at half-time, but we again showed what we are made of to come back and win the game.
“They will come with no fear, and I am sure they would love nothing more than to put a dent in our title defence.
“We have to take confidence from our recent form and make sure we carry that into the game.
“We have four cup finals remaining this season, and that is how we will approach them because we have to win every game we have left to play.
“We certainly have the players capable of doing that, and there is a real desire to finish the season strongly.
“It all comes down to producing on the pitch now, and our complete focus is on Linfield.”
