Senior 3: Enniskillen 0-5 DLHC 1XI
With only 11 players able to make the journey West to newly reformed Enniskillen, Donaghadee knew that a fast start was needed and from the first whistle they were on the front foot.
With lots of attacking down both flanks chance after chance was created and in the tenth minute a great initial shot from Jess Moore was turned in by Kerrie Turtle at the far post to open the scoring in Donaghadee’s favour.
With Paige Reilly playing a slightly higher, free centre back role, there was plenty of space for her to get forward and move the ball wide as Donaghadee looked to keep the pressure on the home side.
Indeed shortly after the ball had rattled the back board, another great team move saw Donagadee building from deep and working the ball so swiftly forward that Kerrie found herself free in the circle once again and she made it two from two to double the Dee’s lead.
Into the final minute of the quarter and a trademark Helen Herron race down the left fed Kerrie whose pass into the circle just evaded Jordan McWilliams’ outstretched stick. 2-0 at quarter end.
The pressure increased even more in Q2 and the Donaghadee attacks were coming from all over the pitch. The dominance allowed defenders Jan Morrow and Row Moore to get involved in the wide channels, supporting the runsof Jess and Helen, whilst Paige and Kerry Kennedy were doing a great job of controlling the midfield.
Vicky O’Neill dropped in beside Jodie Ingham in the heart of defence to cover Paige and they quickly mopped up any attempts by the home team to get forward.
Shot after shot rained in on the Enniskillen goal and, all credit to the new S3 side, some frantic defence kept Donaghadee out. As the quarter drew towards its end a third penalty corner in quick succession saw the ball slipped to Paige and, taking a touch to steady herself, she slammed it home for a 3-0 half-time lead.
The game turned early in the second half and for nearly ten minutes it was all about the home team attacking, however the Dee defenders worked really hard to limit Enniskillen to only a single shot – wide – whilst Dee keeper Nicola Pattonkicked clear a cross for her only touch of the game!
In amongst those forays, a quick counter attack from Donaghadee down the right saw Jess drive the ball into the circle, Jordan having her shot saved before Kerry fired home the rebound for 4-0, albeit slightly against the run of play!
Donagahdee used the extra goal as a platform to finally get hold of the ball and return to their earlier dominance. Kerry and Helen terrorised the defence and a superb run in from the left saw Helen beat the keeper only to see the ball come back off the post!
Into the final quarter and there was more of the same; Enniskillen struggled to get out of their half and attack after attack from the girls in red, involving nearly the entire Dee team.
With 8 minutes remaining Kerry once again reacted quickest to a save by the Enniskillen keeper and crashed it home for a top 5-0 win on the road.
A superb team performance with everyone contributing to the result. The 1XI have a week off before they head to Ballynahinch on 9th December in the penultimate fixture before Christmas.
Junior 9A: Instonians 5-0 DLHC 2XI
By a strange coincidence, the 2XI were also involved in a 5-0 game this weekend away at Instonians, but unfortunately it was the Dee girls who were on the wrong end of this particular scoreline. Faced with a free-flowing Inst team that sat unbeaten at the top of the league and who had scored nearly 40 goals in their 8 league games before this match, it was never going to be an easy task, especially without a number of regular 2nds players. In fact, the Dee did well to get 11 players out on the pitch, with ex-player Lisa Alexander donning the red and green for the first time in years, and doing a brilliant job, for which we are very grateful.
It took a while for the Dee to get used to the soggy pitch, with the muddy conditions making passing and clearing the ball difficult at first, but the defence weathered the early attacks well. With a few minutes of the quarter remaining, an Inst forward drove through the circle and although a series of super saves from keeper Faith McMillen kept her out, she managed to squeeze a pass to a teammate and despite Claire Horne’s stout defence on the goal line, the ball was fired high into the net to make it 1-0.
Following some wise words and a tweak in positional personnel at the first break, the Dee settled a little better in Q2, with the ever-willing runners of Emily Morris and Molly McKee finding some joy down the left but they were unable to really trouble the keeper.
Caroline Davison was her usual all-action self in midfield, aided by Johneena Brown and Lauren Niblock, who continue to improve every week, and between them they tackled, harassed and harried the opposition to slow the play and snuff out attacks. They were powerless to prevent the second goal, however, which was a super strike from a penalty corner, and the Dee went in 2-0 down at half-time.
The second half was virtually one-way traffic, as Inst were able to rotate their squad and bring on fresh legs, whereas Donaghadee had no such luxury, and the players were under the cosh for much of the rest of the game. They certainly had plenty of practice at defending penalty corners, as Inst were awarded 1,249 of them (approximately!) or at least that’s what it felt like.
Floss Patton got her customary whack racing out to defend time after time, but was ably supported by Zoe Turtle, and huge credit goes to the defensive penalty corner team as they defended brilliantly under huge pressure for long periods of the third quarter. But just as they thought they had held out for a rare goalless quarter, Inst pounced on a loose ball and scored in the final minute to make it 3-0.
It was more of the same in the final quarter, with another huge number of PCs defended brilliantly and an occasional foray into the attacking half, one of which resulted in a couple of corners of their own for Donaghadee, but with no joy.
Having scored early in Q4 to make it 4-0, it would have been perfect symmetry if that had been the final score, with one goal in each quarter, but yet another PC was awarded just as the final whistle went.
Faced with the entire Inst team on the edge of the circle in a scene reminiscent of Zulu at Rorkes Drift (old-school reference – look it up!), the Dee defence very nearly held out but the sheer weight of numbers was overwhelming and resulted in a fifth and final goal for the home side.
Thanks to Instonians for providing both umpires for the game, and the 2nds will be looking to bounce back next Saturday with a home game against Saintfield, pushback 1pm at Bangor Grammar where all support will be very welcome.
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