Senior League 3: Cookstown 0-3 DLHC 1XI
It was a mid-table clash in fine autumnal sunshine in mid-Ulster last weekend when the 1XI of Donaghadee Ladies Hockey Club played Cookstown in an early pass back. In a fast and open start, both teams enjoyed good spells of attacking and counterattacking as they sussed each other out. 

It didn’t take long before Dee top scorer Kerry Kennedy opened the scoring, firing home from the top right of the circle following a mazy run from midfield. With no defender able to make a block, the in-form midfielder made no mistake to make it 1-0 to Donaghadee.

There followed some excellent work by central defenders Paige Reilly and Jodie Ingham to keep the home side at bay; despite Cookstown engineering nine visits to their attacking quarter, they only managed a couple of shots, none of which overly troubled Dee keeper Nicola Patton.

The second quarter proceeded in much the same fashion, with Catherine Armstrong making a number of probing runs down the right flank and Kerrie Turtle threatening with several crosses from the left, but the Cookstown keeper made several excellent saves to keep the score t 1-0 going in to the half time break.

After the restart it was one way traffic: wave after wave of Donaghadee attacks, with the Dee’s midfield of Laura Jackson and Vicky O’Neill hassling and harrying to provide a good platform going forward, but some frantic last ditch defending from the home side and diving saves from the Cookstown No 1 kept Donaghadee at bay. 

Then a trademark burst forward from midfield from Helen Herron created a scramble in front of goal resulting in a Cookstown foot blocking the ball from crossing the goal line and a stroke awarded.

No better woman for the job, so up stepped Kerry and she fired home bottom left beyond the outstretched foot of the Cookstown keeper to make it 2-0 to Donaghadee. Not long after she looked to have secured her hat trick as she lifted the ball high towards the top corner but a superb stick save by the keeper turned it away!

Cookstown managed a couple of counter attacks which were well defended, with Row Moore putting in good tackles to clear and set up Donaghadee going forward again.

Backs Jan Mprrow and Faith McMillan were both able to push forward down the flanks to support the attack as Donaghadee looked to stretch the game and use the whole width of the field.

The pace of the game started to tell a bit in the final quarter as the tempo dropped a little, but with gaps opening up, Donaghadee struck again, with Catherine providing a cute little pass for Carolyn Scott to run on to at the top right of the circle, with the forward unleashing an unstoppable shot across the keeper and into the bottom left of the net to seal Donaghadee’s 3-0 victory.

Kerry Kennedy was awarded this week’s Star Player for her miles in midfield and two great goals, and she thanked Cookstown for the match played in good spirit and to the home side for providing a second umpire on the day.

The Firsts are on their travels again this week as they rack up the miles to Castlederg, pass back there is at 1pm on Saturday.

Junior 9A: Newry 1-3 DLHC 2XI
The 2nd XI were off on their travels again this week, with a late trip to Newry on Friday evening. Thankfully Storm Babet had moved on before push-back, although playing conditions were tough enough to start the match, and the Dee took a little while to adjust to the sluggish pitch.

Much of the first quarter was played out in midfield as the teams sounded each other out, with strong showings from the midfield trio of Emily Morris, Caroline Davison and Erin Hamilton, but no real chances were created at either end. With a single Dee shot coming from open play and another from a penalty corner, both of which were wide of the goals, it was goalless at the first break.  

The team found their feet and their passing early on in Q2, and began to mount attack after attack, with the deadlock broken by a contender for goal of the season! Working in tandem with Alex Mawhinney to close down the midfield, Katie McKee dispossessed a Newry player just inside her own half and released Molly McKee down the left.

Molly’s driving run took her past several defenders to the baseline, where she had the composure to pull the ball back across the goal for Katie to fire it home. Time after time the defenders were turned by the pace of the attack, and only some superb saves kept the score at 1-0 at halftime.

Hoping to build on the momentum being created, the third quarter was a frustrating one, as despite 7 visits to the home circle, the Dee could not get a single shot on target. The game was virtually one-way traffic at that stage, with the Dee central defence of Claire Horne and Natalie Jamieson able to push higher up the pitch and snuff out any attacks before they really started. 

The scoreline remained stubbornly at 1-0 starting the final quarter, when finally it all came together for the Dee. With Jordan McWilliams pulling the strings behind the front two, Lisa Higgins pushing upfield to work with Emily and Molly on the left, and Abbie Brown doing the same with Erin and Katie on the right, the Dee girls finally found their killer instinct. 

From 8 circle visits, the Dee put together 8 shots, with 6 on target. Twice more Molly – this week’s Star Player – took on the defence and won, scoring two super goals with her speed and persistence.  Emily also got the ball in the net but saw the goal chalked off as the ball had crossed the baseline before being crossed to her.  

As the Dee pushed forward in search of more goals, Newry had an occasional foray in attack, but Abbie frustrated the Newry captain with “stick tight” defending. As the final whistle was about to blow, the home team finally made it into the Dee circle and got a forceful shot away – straight into Captain Floss Patton’s ankle with a horrible thwack!

The resulting penalty corner saw a great shot from a straight strike evade the outstretched leg of keeper Faith McMillen, and a late consolation goal to spoil the clean sheet, but overall it was a well deserved 3-1 win for Donaghadee. Huge thanks to Deborah Gilmour for umpiring when she could have been drinking wine on a Friday evening!

The Seconds are looking forward to being back in home action next Saturday, when they take on South Antrim, pass back at BGS 1pm

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