'How do you get a better season than that?' - Cliftonville's 'invincible' 2024

"How do you get a better season than that? It's impossible!"

Cliftonville midfielder Marissa Callaghan perfectly summarised a historic 2024 for her side.

The Reds clinched a domestic treble by winning the Women's Premiership, the League Cup and Irish Cup.

Even more impressive was the fact they completed an 'invincible' league campaign, winning all 16 of their games.

With help from Callaghan, here is the story of some of the key games that helped Cliftonville achieve unprecedented league success.

Cliftonville went into the 2024 season desperate to claim back a title they had lost to Glentoran in 2023.

John McGrady's side started their league campaign in fine form with eight wins from eight and they had beaten Lisburn Rangers in the final to retain the League Cup in July.

So far so good, but then the one very small blemish on their record-breaking campaign arrived at the end of August.

A 2-1 County Antrim Cup defeat against Glentoran meant they would not complete a clean sweep of four domestic trophies.

Callaghan, however, believes it was a blessing in disguise and a "big turning point" for the success that would come in the league.

"We started the season really well winning lots of games and scoring lots of goals, we almost became complacent," she admitted.

"The mood in training was low in the week leading up to the final and I felt we were going to lose. After that game we knew we couldn't get complacent.

"It was probably the best thing that happened to us in terms of making sure we won all the games after that."

Glentoran and Cliftonville have been locked in a two-horse race for the title in the last four years.

With only eight teams in the top tier it is a short season and so the margin for error in dropping points to any other teams is miniscule, something that the Reds were acutely aware of after 2023.

Two games stand out for Callaghan in terms of Cliftonville "learning from mistakes" of the previous season.

A 5-2 win against Linfield in their first game after the final defeat against Glentoran at the end of August and their last-gasp 3-2 victory against Lisburn Rangers at the end of September.

Both had their fair share of hairy moments for the Reds, who twice surrendered two goal leads before roaring back to win.

"Linfield was a massive one, they played really well, and they should have beat us," Callaghan explained.

"It was 2-2 then Abbie Magee scored a wonder goal and Naomi McLaughlin came on and scored two goals. She had a nightmare with injuries, and she came in and changed the game for us.

"After that we thought 'this is going to be ours'."

They were pushed all the way by Lisburn Rangers after establishing an early two-goal cushion before their top goal scorer Caitlin McGuinness popped up with a 90th minute winner.

"After that game there was no way we were losing the title, just the matter of the way we came back, we just kept going."

Despite their perfect record up until their penultimate game of the season, Cliftonville had still not wrapped up the title.

That was because their next opponents and nearest rivals Glentoran had won 13 of their 14 games, their only defeat coming against the Reds earlier in the season.

It was a winner takes all game, an "all or nothing" fixture as Callaghan described and the Reds duly stepped up to the plate, showing their credentials with a dominant 6-0 win at Solitude.

"We drew twice with them in the league last year and we learned from mistakes, everyone had a stormer," she smiled.

"Everything fell into place for us that night, everyone was up for it and ultimately, we turned it on at the end of the season when other teams were getting tired."

Whilst the title was secured the 'invincible' record was still up for grabs and Callaghan says that Cliftonville were hungry to finish what was an unforgettable campaign on a high.

They did so with a narrow 1-0 victory against north Belfast rivals Crusaders.

"In 2022 our last game of the season, we had already won the league, and we were in party mode as it was the first title and Glentoran came out and beat us in our last game.

"I was so annoyed after that, so we were adamant we didn't want the last game to be a defeat this year."

They rounded off a fantastic season in style with a sumptuous attacking display in a 5-0 Irish Cup win against Lisburn Rangers, their first success in that competition in nine years.

"We wanted to just enjoy it, it's been a while since we had won an Irish Cup final, and the girls were just so relaxed before and it showed.

"We couldn't have had a more perfect season - unless we won the four trophies!" Callaghan joked.

We all know what will be on Cliftonville's list of goals for 2025, but for now, they can reflect contently on a stunning 2024.