Sion Swifts Ladies F.C.

Sion Swifts Ladies F.C.
Full nameSion Swifts Ladies Football Club
Founded2010; 14 years ago (2010)
GroundMelvin Sports Complex, Strabane
ManagerTony McGinley[1]
LeagueWomen's Premiership
20234th

Sion Swifts Ladies Football Club is a women's association football club based in Strabane, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. They were founded in 2010 and promoted into the Irish League Women’s Premiership in 2015.[2] They won the IFA Women's Challenge Cup in 2017, beating Newry City 2–0 at Windsor Park in Belfast.[3]

Throughout its history the club has fielded a number of players from nearby County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland.[4] In June 2019 the club was subject to media attention when their goalkeeper Nicole McClure played for Jamaica at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France, then played in a league match for Sion Swifts the following day.[5]

The club lost a close battle[6] with rivals Linfield for the 2019 Women's Premiership title in 2019. In August 2020 they announced the double signing of Linfield captain Kirsty McGuinness and her sister Caitlin McGuinness.[7]

  1. ^ Nethery, Tommy (11 June 2020). "Positive signs for Sion Ladies". Strabane Chronicle. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  2. ^ McCarthy, Nicola (17 June 2020). "Swifts shaking things up in Women's Premiership". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  3. ^ "Sion Swifts Lift Electric Ireland Cup - She Kicks Women's Football Magazine". shekicks.net. 8 September 2017. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  4. ^ McNulty, Chris (7 September 2017). "Sion Swifts' strong Donegal connection bid for history in Windsor Park final". Donegal Sport Hub. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  5. ^ "Nicole McClure: Jamaica keeper in club action 24 hours after making World Cup debut". BBC Sport. 20 June 2019. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  6. ^ "Women's Premiership: Sion Swifts title success would be 'incredible'". BBC Sport. 17 September 2019. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  7. ^ "Sion Swifts: Women's Premiership side sign Kirsty and Caitlin McGuinness from Linfield". BBC Sport. 20 August 2020. Retrieved 26 September 2020.