Intermediate Plate: Parkview 0-9 DLHC 1XI

An emotional victory sees Donaghadee LHC’s 1XI through to the quarter final of the Intermediate Plate following a comprehensive victory over Parkview on Friday night.

Earlier in the week the club was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of 1XI defender Sarah Hooks following a two year battle with cancer. Sarah joined the club in 2018 but was no stranger to Donaghadee having played for Annadale against the club on numerous occasions. When Annadale folded, Sarah opted to join sister-in-law Helen Herron (nee Hooks) at the Dee, quickly becoming a stalwart in defence and queen of the one-liners. 

With her “man, or ball, or both” defensive strategy, the occasional foul may have been given away but when she could get away with it, “Umpire didn’t see, play on!” made her a firm favourite with her fellow defenders, while she was also happy to give her attackers the odd word of advice: “Sure, I’ll just do one hit up into the circle and you can all score from there”. Route one hockey from a rock solid defender which was often a very effective method of attack!

When illness curtailed her playing, she was a frequent – and fervent – supporter on the sideline, often urging on the team on the pitch, or offering helpful observations at half time (“You probably should have been carded there, but the umpire didn’t see it…”) – there is no doubt she, her warmth and her wit will be sorely missed but we will always be grateful to have had her as a team-mate and proud to have called her a friend.

The match on Friday night began with a minute’s silence and it was an emotional Donaghadee team which took to the pitch, determined to do Sarah proud one last time. 

On the front foot from the first whistle, Donaghadee won a penalty corner within the first two minutes with Leanna McGimpsey-Young opening the scoring before continual pressure on the home side led to the defence caving and Hannah Younge bursting through from midfield to double the lead after six minutes. Leanna then made it three after 12 minutes and Donaghadee were able to relax into the game and start pinging the ball around.

Vicky O’Neill, Jordan McWilliams and Kerrie Turtle came on to replace Row Moore, Kerry Kennedy and Leanna for the second quarter, and before long Jordan and Kerrie were adding to the tally; Jordan getting her first on 23 minutes followed a couple of minutes later by Kerrie at the back post tapping in for number five. 

Shortly before the quarter end disaster struck when Hannah was caught by a stick on the back of the hand, leaving her unable to continue. Into the second half a bit of a reshuffle and a change of tactics saw the team switch to a back three of Kathryn Cunningham, Jodie MacLaren and Row steadying the ship and keeping Dee keeper Nicola well shielded from the action and giving more weight to the attack which saw Donaghadee begin to run the home defence ragged. 

A front three of Carolyn Scott, Leanna and Kerrie harassed the home defence with support from Jordan and Kerry running the lines from midfield, initially without success but then Leanna completed her hat trick in 37th minute and Carolyn getting her name on the scoreboard three minutes later. 7-0 at the three quarter mark.

Donaghadee were desperate to get Helen on the scoresheet and with some crafty movement and slick passing, a number of opportunities allowed the midfielder to drive through to the edge of the attacking circle but that final ball just would not cross the line inside the posts (about which Sarah would most definitely had some helpful advice!)

Into the final quarter and Carolyn and Vicky came off for Lisa Higgins and Jess Moore, the latter back on to terrorise the Parkview defence with her fast attacking down the right wing. As attack followed attack, Jordan got her second to bring it up to 8, Carolyn returned for Kerrie with 6 minutes left and fired just wide before Jordan got her third (and first ever hat trick) to take it to 9-0 with mere minutes left.

A convincing win on an emotional night, with thanks to Mike Smyth for umpiring and to Parkview for facilitating and observing the minute’s silence at the start. The victory takes the 1s into the quarter final of the Intermediate Plate, to be played on 15^th March, with action continuing this Saturday in the penultimate league match, pass back against Holywood at Sullivan is at 1.30pm.

Junior League 10: Saintfield 0-2 DLHC 2XI

The 2XI’s initial trip to Saintfield had previously been postponed due to a frozen pitch but Saturday past was the perfect weather for a game of hockey. 

Half term holidays changed up the team a bit and Donaghadee’s 1XI keeper Faith McMillen had an enjoyable game without her pads, putting into practice the marking calls she is so good at communicating from her nets. After the previous week’s incredibly defensive game, usual 2XI keeper Janice had a somewhat easier game this week with much of the play being dominated by the Dee team.

There was some excellent play all over the pitch with Coach Willie McAdam delighted to see the team putting into action some of those long passes and switches across the back that we have been practising at training. 

Emily Morris and Tasha McGimpsey positioned themselves brilliantly up front ready to receive balls, enjoying many shots on target and it took fantastic form from Saintfield’s keeper to clear the threats. leaving the score a frustrating 0-0 at half time.

Donaghadee started the third quarter with great determination to get that ball over the line and a penalty corner awarded midway through was the chance. Natalie Jamieson received the ball and slipped to Tasha with the first shot saved by the home keeper but Natalie was on hand to fire home the rebound to give Donaghadee the lead.

While the majority of the play was against Saintfield, there were some very skilled Saint players in midfield so when they did get the ball through, they were a threat going forward but Donaghadee’s defence of Jan Burgess, Megan Inglis, Natalie and Row Moore stood firm, clearing the ball back to mids Caroline Davison, Johneena Brown and Faith. Thankfully at 54 mins, Tasha raced into the circle and beat the keeper to make the score 2-0 to give the team a little breathing room to hold on the win for the last minutes of the game.

Emily was voted player of the match for her tireless running up front, in the circle and positioning herself brilliantly to receive the ball. It was just not her day to get that ball over the line – but it certainly was not for the lack of shots on target!

Thanks to Willie who umpired on the day. The 2XI are back in action this weekend with a home match against Limavady, pass back at BGS 2.30pm.

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