Senior 3: DLHC 1XI 7-1 Derg Valley
DLHC welcomed Derg Valley to BGS on Saturday and the home team went straight on the attack, giving the visitors no chance to settle in after their long drive. Right from the first whistle Donaghadee piled on the pressure; from a dozen visits to the Derg circle, five of the Dee’s shots were on target but three strong saves by the Derg keeper and a couple of shots wide kept things scoreless in the first quarter.

The second quarter saw a change up front with Molly and Katie McKee coming on to provide speed on the wings, with Jordan McWilliams supporting in midfield and the alternative forward line continued the theme of making sure much of the action was in the attacking half. The constant pressure started to started to tell as Donaghadee enjoyed much of the possession, firing in nine shots, over half of which were all on target.

A lovely move in midfield saw a quick interchange between Jess Moore and Kerry Kennedy released Molly wide right of the circle, and the winger was quick to fire a reverse stick shot past the keeper to break the deadlock and give Donaghadee the lead going in to half-time 1-0 to the good.

The visitors had their best spell in a more open third  quarter with a number of threatening counter attacks which made it into the Dee circle but the danger was cleared before keeper Nicola Patton was called upon, thanks to Jodie Ingham and Rachel McClatchey mopping up any Derg attacks, allowing Floss Scott, Row Moore and Jan Morrow to all help going forward.

Having weathered the early Derg storm, a quick counter from the Dee saw forward Kerrie Turtle cut in from the left wing to fire a square ball across the top of the circle for Carolyn Scott to drive in and blast past the Derg keeper to make it 2-0, before another break down the left saw Kerry cutting in along the baseline to fire home number three from a tight angle.

There was no respite for Derg: every time they tried to get forward the fast passing and great running off the ball by Donaghadee all over the pitch opened them up; with less than four minutes to play in the quarter the ball was passed through all of the attackers and arrived with Molly at the top of the circle. Her shot was deflected by an unlucky defender and past the keeper to make it  four.

Into the last couple of minutes of the quarter and in midfield, Hannah Younge and Helen Herron combined, with a further neat exchange between Helen and Vicky O’Neill releasing Kerrie again on the left. With a similar pass inside to her strike partner, Carolyn ensured the same outcome: an unstoppable shot to the keeper’s left the net bulging and Donaghadee 5-0 to the good. 

Into the final quarter and Derg fought back with a successful penalty corner to deny the hosts a clean sheet, but that was to be their final attempt as they were pushed deeper and deeper into their own half with Molly and Carolyn both looking for their hat tricks and the whole team pushing for more goals.

One great chance broke down when a Derg defender got in the way of Carolyn’s striking the ball, but thankfully she was okay to continue. With just over five minutes remaining Jess got in on the scoring action to add number 6 before Donaghadee won a penalty corner in the dying moments of the game with Carolyn firing in to complete her hat trick and make the final result 7-1.

With thanks to Mike Smyth and Deborah Gilmore for umpiring, and well done to Hannah and Molly for their joint Star Player performances. The 1XI are in action again on Saturday away to league leaders Castle, pass back in Carrickfergus at 1pm.

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