From Mallusk to Minsk - how the McGuinness sisters are hoping their NI careers can merge in Euro qualifier

They tease each other about being annoying. Joke argue about who's the better player. And the older one says the younger one "follows me around everywhere".

In many ways, the dynamic between the McGuinness sisters is typical of many sibling relationships.

However, the sporting talent of 25-year-old Kirsty and Caitlin, 18, is such that their sisterly bond has been moulded further by a career path that has been strikingly similar.

Not only have the west Belfast girls enjoyed huge GAA success with local club St Paul's, and represented Antrim either at minor or senior level, but in football they have won Irish Premiership titles together with Linfield and are now setting the league alight at new club Sion Swifts.

What's more, they are both full Northern Ireland internationals. To date, though, they have not been on the pitch for NI at the same time - but that could be about to change in Tuesday's vital Euro 2022 qualifier away to Belarus.

"This is the first time we have both been in the same squad," explains Kirsty, her assuredness as big sister meaning she is comfortable in discussing the success they have enjoyed.

"I had taken a few years away from international football to study and that was when Caitlin started coming through. It is really exciting both for us and our parents, and we just hope we get good game time.

"We don't know yet what the team will be, but it would be a really special moment for us to be on the pitch together."
Laughing at the boys before Linfield came calling

The match in Minsk will be the latest stopping point in a football journey that, for each of them, began with with cutting their teeth as the only girl in the St Oliver Plunkett boys' team.

"They were all boys I grew up with, we played football in the street together so they were very accepting," Kirsty recalls of her age-group, who played many of their matches at Mallusk playing fields.

"As a girl, you always got a bit of stick from the teams we played against but you grew used to that - and it always made it even sweeter when we beat them.

"I used to play centre-back for the boys and I remember one match when I scored an own-goal in the first few minutes. You could see them thinking it was going to be easy because I was a girl, but we ended up winning 7-1. Things like that made me laugh."

In 2013, and by then a goalscoring winger, Kirsty secured a move to Linfield Ladies. It was not long before she became an integral player and was a driving force in the team winning the league title for the last four seasons, the last of which she was captain for.

Caitlin had arrived to add extra firepower to the Blues' attack for the two most recent title wins, and it is a time they both look back on fondly.

"When I first joined Linfield we didn't win any trophies as it was Glentoran and Crusaders who were winning everything," said Kirsty, who was named NI Football Awards Women's Personality of the Year on Sunday.

"Gradually, we started getting better, were able to attract more good players and eventually started winning silverware. Winning the four titles in a row was a fantastic achievement and I loved my time at the club."

Family affair on the road to Strabane

In a double transfer that raised many eyebrows throughout the Women's Premiership and beyond, the McGuinness girls swapped Belfast for Strabane in the summer as they joined Sion Swifts, the team that only missed out on last season's title to Linfield on goal difference.

"I loved my time at Linfield but wanted to try something new and challenge myself," Kirsty explained.

"Sion are really trying to push the club forward and, after hearing what they had to say, I knew straight away that I wanted to go there."

And was it always going to be both sisters joining together?

"I think Sion were probably hoping that if one of us went then the other would too," she said. "We've always played for the same teams, so it would maybe be strange if we didn't.

"I think a lot of people are surprised given the distance we have to travel from Belfast, but quite often my dad would drive us up for matches. We do everything together as a family."

Kirsty and Caitlin have scored 12 goals between them in the five matches Sion have played this season and the team is sitting second in the table, three points behind leaders Glentoran with a game in hand.

Kirsty played down the impact she and her sister have had on the team, saying she is just happy the league season is able to continue after being granted 'elite sport' status by the Irish FA.

"We are only two players in a squad. We do contribute with a lot of goals but that is what forward players are there to do. Can we win the league? Who knows, we will try. That has to be the aim, but we are a young team."

New belief can lead to Euro glory

As well as the McGuinness girls' added motivation, Tuesday's qualifier in Minsk is vital to NI's outside chance of reaching the Euro 2022 finals.

With five points from five group games, Kenny Shiels' side need to win all of their remaining three meetings - they also play Belarus away and the Faroe Island at home - to have a chance of securing a play-off place.

McGuinness, who scored on her return to the international scene is September's 6-0 win over the Faroes, is optimistic about the team's chances, having sensed a positive change in the squad's mindset during what was her first involvement since Shiels took over.

"Kenny brings something different to the squad, I'm not sure what it is. He has brought a desire and has helped us realise how good we are, and not to doubt ourselves.

"Before, the ambition would just have been to win a match, now it is to qualify for a finals. Kenny is telling us that we are good enough and I think the girls are starting to believe that themselves."

Kirsty would no doubt be happy for Caitlin to follow her to England for those Euro finals in two years' time.