The midfielder has played against Celtic plenty of times in her senior career, but a five-star showing from the side to earn three valuable league points is surely among the most memorable derby experiences.
She levelled with a delightful volley to cancel out Maria McAneny’s opener before sliding a delicious left-footed finish under the Celtic goalkeeper to complete a quickfire turnaround.
Speaking to RangersTV after the victory, McLeary commented: “I said to the girls before the game that I felt like scoring.
“I’ve never actually scored in this fixture, so to score twice and see my family in the crowd was a really proud moment.
“I love playing in these types of games because it’s what we play football for. When the calendar comes out, these are the games that I look to straight away.
“It makes it even more enjoyable when you win it. We came into it wanting three points and we can be very happy leaving with that.
“I couldn’t have dreamt it going any better, both personally and collectively.
“It was something we wanted to focus on coming off the back of Wednesday. The girls were really energised, and coming into today we were ready to get the three points.
“It’s a real credit to both the group and staff to put on a performance like that and score five goals.”
Although the Gers scored five, they were forced to show character in abundance after Celtic opened the scoring in the first-half before levelling for 2-2 shortly after the restart.
McLeary continued: “If we do go a goal down it’s never something that sways us as a team. I thought it really energised us, even though it shouldn’t take that.
“I know what we’ve got and we’ve done it many times before. We can’t complain with three points and five goals.
“It’s so important in these types of games that you do know your role individually. Once you take care individually then it comes as a collective.
“Every single player can be so proud of themselves today in the way that they handled the game and their application, especially considering we’re coming off the back of a midweek game.”
Attention now moves to Wednesday’s return leg in the UEFA Europa Cup as Rangers host Hammarby seeking to overturn a 2-0 first-leg deficit.
The midfielder believes her side can take plenty of confidence from their performance levels this season.
She added: “We were disappointed after Wednesday, but we dusted ourselves down really quickly.
“It’s something we’re looking forward to it. It’s a big night here, and the tie isn’t done.
“These are the types of games that I want to be playing in and challenging myself in.
“Playing at the best level possible really challenges this group, and the dressing room is the best that I’ve been in.
“We’re so close-knit and we’ll be ready to go on Wednesday night.”
