For the first time, the first team moved up a level to the Manchester Belle Vue Leagues, after being runners-up at the Manchester Sale open in June.

Clitheroe needed to finish in the top four of their 10 team pool to progress through to the finals night.

They put in some strong team performances to finish fourth, and had a tough draw in the semi-finals against league favourites Urmston.

The locals took the lead with a thunderous reverse-stick strike from O'Donnell and then new player and penalty corner specialist, Mulcahy doubled the lead with an unstoppable strike, before Clitheroe made it 3-0 when O'Donnell skilfully weaved her way through the Urmston defence.

The lead was soon 4-0 when Mulchay used her skill on the penalty corner routine to brilliantly find Dugdale, who deflected home a well-taken goal.

Urmston pulled the score back to 4-1, but this lifted Clitheroe, and within a minute O'Donnell hit home to earn a place in the final.

The final against Sale was end-to-end, with both goalkeepers making outstanding saves.

When a penalty shoot-out looked inevitable, Clitheroe mounted one last attack, and O'Donnell picked up a loose ball and smashed home to capture the gold medals.

Clitheroe then went to Brookfields to play in a one-day tournament.
Clitheroe were drawn in pool A, and strolled past Witton 5-1 and Brookfields 12-1, before drawing 1-1 with Garstang.

In the other pool, the seconds lost 2-0 to Garstang, then put in a excellent performance to beat a strong Southport team 1-0, and narrowly lost 1-0 to Chorley.

Clitheroe went behind to semi-final opponents Chorley on the stroke of half-time, and battled hard to try and level the score.

With 10 minutes, remaining Horsfall hit home a brilliant goal.

In the final five minutes Clitheroe piled on the pressure and were rewarded with a fine team goal.

In a great final, Clitheroe were first to score, but Garstang responded within minutes and the score remained level at half-time.

Clitheroe took the lead twice in the second half, with Garstang levelling on each occasion to force penalties.

With Garstang up first, an outstanding save from Simpson, diving low into her bottom corner, gave Clitheroe the advantage, Horsfall then placed a well-taken goal, putting Clitheroe in the lead, before Garstang scored their second.
Up stepped Mulchay, with a broken finger, and she used all her experience to flick the ball high into the top corner.

Simpson then saved brilliantly again, with O'Donnell making the score 3-1 with another penalty high into the corner.

Garstang then scored, meaning that if the Clitheroe skipper scored, the game was won, and Laverty scored an outstanding penalty to win the tournament for the third consecutive year.

The second team lost only one game on their way to the runners-up cup in the Leyland Summer League, missing out on the title by only two points.

They pulled off some major shocks on the way, as did the third team, who were expected to finish near the foot of the 12-team table, but claimed seventh spot.

The club is looking for a local business to sponsor their teams and help the club take another step forward, and continue to build their junior development bringing sport to the community.

If anyone would like to join the club, or help with sponsorship, please contact Hannah (07855 337708) or email clitheroehockeyclub@hotmail.co.uk