Irish striker Kirsty McGuinness has been named women’s personality of the year in the annual Northern Football Awards.
McGuinness has been recognised by the Northern Ireland Football Writers’ Association for her performances with Linfield during 2019.
The striker was the top scorer in the NIFL Women’s Premiership last year with an amazing 32 goals from 21 games, making her the popular choice for the award ahead of Ashley Hutton and Demi Vance.
Kirsty captained the Blues to their fourth successive Premiership title in 2019 and led from the front, finishing the season with a five-goal haul in the league-clinching victory over Derry City, as they won 10-0 on a night when they needed a victory by seven clear goals to come out on top ahead of Sion Swifts.
“It’s always great to win awards. That’s what football is all about, it’s about winning things,” said Kirsty. “It’s great and I’m delighted with it.”
The talented forward who joined Sion Swifts in the summer, was recalled to the Northern Ireland squad and scored in a 6-0 away victory over Faroe Islands in September, but tomorrow they have a tougher away game.
“The girls are buzzing about the Belarus game,” Kirsty told irishfa.com, who will be looking for an early birthday present as she turns 26 on Wednesday week.
And she added: “We are preparing well so hopefully come match day it will be good. It’s a massive game and we know that we can’t come back with anything less than three points.”
