Senior League 3: Club KC 1-1 DLHC 1XI

Donaghadee Ladies were on their travels on Saturday with a trip to a sunny but blustery Queen’s pitch at the House of Sport.

Travelling with a full complement plus subs, there was an immediate shuffling of personnel when Kathy Sinnamon was unlucky to tweak her hamstring within the first minute.

The reshuffle saw Helen Herron dropping from midfield into left back, with Row Moore switching to the right and Tasha McGimpsey on to add speed in midfield.

Despite the early disruption for Donaghadee things were fairly evenly balanced with relatively even possession for both sides. Donaghadee had two good shots on target with strikes from both Dee forwards Carolyn Scott and Leanna McGimpsey-Young.

Quarter two saw Ruth Coulter and Kerrie Turtle on to add impetus up front and both were involved in keeping Donaghadee on the front foot; another couple of chances created but kept out by the home side.

Equally Donaghadee were putting in a shift in defence as momentum swung; Captain Jodie Ingham showing scant regard for her knees with one magnificent sliding tackle clearing danger before the shot came in while Kathryn Cunningham put in another tough tackling performance to keep KV away from the circle.

It was Hannah Younge’s turn to substitute in defence as she moved from midfield into right back in the third quarter to release Helen further up the pitch as Donaghadee looked to nick a lead.

With Jess Moore making good inroads down the right, Donaghadee started to shade possession and began to look dangerous again in attack. One shot led to the ball getting trapped in the keeper’s pads; with play waved on, Donaghadee were unlucky not to gain from that.

Early in the final quarter KV attacked down their right and a clever ball across face of goal managed to evade Dee keeper Faith McMillen with the KV forward sliding home at back post to give the home side the lead.

Donaghadee responded really positively, bouncing back in style to launch attack after attack, creating 6 chances – 3 of which were on target – in the final 15 minutes, before KK finally beat the keeper to level things up with mere moments remaining.

Final score 1-1 as Donaghadee continue their unbeaten run. Next up is Antrim at home, pass back at 2.30pm on Saturday.

Junior League 10: Pegasus 1-0 DLHC 2XI

Donaghadee 2s travelled to Newforge to play Pegasus in the early game on Saturday afternoon. In the first quarter Donaghadee players Floss Patton, Claire Horne, Lisa Higgins and Laura Hamilton defended superbly to keep the ball away from goalkeeper Janice McVeigh. 

At the other end, Donaghadee won two attacking penalty corners. With Emily Morris injecting the ball at a good fast pace, Dawn McDonald was able to get a shot on target but the home defence stood strong and Donaghadee were unable to convert. Up front, Dawn and fellow forward Vicky O’Neill combined well to carry the ball towards the Pegasus circle with Dawn shooting past the keeper only to see the ball come back off the post. 

The match then became extremely evenly contested, with both teams enjoying some good possession, and the stalemate was broken after 24 minutes when Pegasus scored with their first shot on target. Undeterred, Donaghadee kept pushing forwards and thanks to strong work in midfield by Erin Hamilton, Emily and Caroline Davison, the Dee created 5 shots at goal, 4 of which were on target, but the Pegasus keeper was in great form and did well to keep the ball out.

Into the third quarter, Claire suffered a nasty hand injury (a post-match trip to A&E confirmed two broken fingers!) meaning Donaghadee needed to make several positional changes. Lauren Niblock stepped in to help the defence with Johneena slotting in to the left hand side of midfield to protect Suzie Ferguson in defence. 

Another great ball from the Dee midfield was picked up by Anna Aitken received the ball to drive into the home side’s circle but again the Pegasus keeper made a great save to deny a Donaghadee equaliser. Donaghadee continued to work hard and the midfield and forwards had their best chances from some lovely counterattacking hockey; with five minutes left Vicky beat two defenders and the keeper but the ball slid just wide of the goal, and that proved to be the final attacking action of the game, leaving the scoreline 1-0 to Pegasus.

The player of the match was awarded to Lisa for her great defence work and accurate passing into midfield and she thanked Carolyn Scott for umpiring. The 2s are next in action away to Dromore on Saturday, pass pack 4pm.

Web: http://www.donaghadeelhc.co.uk
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/donaghadeelhc
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/donaghadeelhc
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/donaghadeelhc/