By Lewis Bennett
Bangor Ladies 7 – Mid Ulster Ladies 0
BANGOR Ladies returned to winning ways in the NIWFA Championship with an emphatic win over Mid Ulster Ladies at Clandeboye Park.
The Seasiders bounced back in style following successive defeats to Sion Swifts Ladies and St James’ Swifts Ladies and recorded their largest margin of victory in the 2026 season to date, stylishly getting the better of their Co Tyrone opponents.
Rory Hamill’s side were in need of a lift after consecutive 4-1 reverses to Sion and St James’, and they responded with perhaps their most complete performance of the campaign, as they overwhelmed the division’s bottom side.
Going in 3-0 up at the break, courtesy of goals from Amanda Morton, Amber Dempster and Laurie Bell, against an outfit which was in the Sports Direct Women’s Premiership two years ago, represented a strong return to form for the Yellows.
They backed it up in the second period, when Olivia Marshall, introduced as a half-time substitute, notched a hat-trick, before Naomi Donnan completed the rout in stoppage time.
Bangor made a strong start and took the lead after just four minutes, with Morton turning in her second goal of the season to get the scoring underway early on.
That lead was doubled with 17 minutes gone, as captain Dempster found the back of the net for her fifth of the campaign, with teenager Bell following up with a goal on her home debut five minutes later.
Bell was the shining light in the Yellows’ defeat to St James’ the previous week, with a fine debut finish, and she picked up where she left off on her home bow to make sure Bangor were in command from the outset.
The hosts retained their three-goal advantage until the interval, with a double change seeing Marshall and Jodie Shannon – the latter appearing for the first time since the opening day following a spell on the sidelines – replace Morton and Emi Wynne for the second period.
Marshall, Bangor’s top scorer going into this contest, wasted little time in making an impact as she added their fourth of the night, just three minutes after the restart.
As it happened, the forward was only just getting started. She added her second goal with 69 minutes gone, and with one minute of regular time remaining, she netted to make it six and complete a maiden treble for the club.
That brings Marshall’s goal tally for the season up to eight, but it was Donnan who had the final say in added-time, as the former Linfield, Sion and Lisburn Rangers full-back scored her first goal for the Seasiders to wrap up a comprehensive success.
Bangor also made sure of a third clean sheet of the campaign, ensuring that they remain third in the NIWFA Championship standings, with 15 points from a possible 21 so far.
Their focus now turns to the NIWFA Championship Cup, with Ballymena United Women the visitors to Clandeboye Park for an intriguing quarter-final encounter next Friday night (8pm).
