E’CORTHYHOCKEY
It was a busy weekend for Enniscorthy Hockey Club’s adult teams, and especially for the ladies’ second and men’s second string sides, both of whom played twice in the space of 24 hours.
The ladies’ first eleven hosted Suttonians seconds on Saturday at the Astro Active Centre. The side, captained by Leah Chapman, were hoping to improve on an uncharacteristically disappointing loss to North Kildare the previous weekend.
The home team set the tempo from the outset, pushing forward with intent and testing the Suttonian full-back line from the get-go. Enniscorthy were unlucky not to capitalise on a goalmouth scramble early on, but Jessie Flood was on hand to fire home from the top of the circle after eight minutes.
Enniscorthy’s second goal came from Laura O’Leary after a fast-paced break down the right on the 30-minute mark. An Enniscorthy penalty corner was then cleared and worked up the field before Suttonians were awarded a penalty corner, ably saved by stand-in goalkeeper Olive Lett as the half-time whistle sounded.
After a very strong first-half performance, the Slaneysiders’ back four of Katie Owen, May Wickham, Julie Watchorn and captain Leah Chapman again worked tirelessly to clear counter-attacks, but the visitors were awarded a penalty corner after twelve minutes in the second-half.
It was again saved and cleared by the composed home defence. Three minutes later, following strong attack from midfielders Laura Smith, Laura Bailey and Jessie Flood, centre forward Anna Flood impressively dragflicked to the roof of the the net after receiving a pass from the baseline just inside the circle.
Enniscorthy were on a roll now, applying constant and relentless pressure to the Suttonian defence. Four minutes after their third goal, leftwing Marti Rudd made no mistake in finishing to the right corner of the net for the fourth and final goal.
Róisín Treacy made one final break down the right wing and was unlucky not to add to the already impressive tally of scores in a much-improved performance. They now lie joint second in the Leinster League Division 7 table and look forward to their next clash versus Skerries in two weeks’ time, having received a bye in the Irish Hockey Trophy first round draw which commences next weekend.
Squad: Leah Chapman, May Wickham, Julie Watchorn, Katie Owen, Jessie Flood, Laura Smith, Laura Bailey, Marti Rudd, Anna Flood, Laura O’Leary, Róisín Treacy, Olive Lett.
The men’s first XI were hosted by Wicklow at East Glendalough School in their first derby match of the season.
Donal Doyle’s men started the stronger, and in fact the visitors drew first blood in this typically close contest with less than a quarter of an hour on the clock. Former Wicklow player O’Sullivan got on the end of a long ball from right-back Andrew Rothwell, and with great skill and patience slipped it past the despairing dive of the Wicklow goalkeeper.
The home side were unbowed, and forced a number of penalty corners inside the opening 20 minutes, all of which were ably dealt with by Hill and his defence.
Enniscorthy hit the home side again after 25 minutes. This time Roy Chapman worked his way down the right wing, with his ball across the circle finding his lurking brother Glen, who made no mistake.
The visitors were now two goals up and came very close to making it three with a penalty corner shot from O’Sullivan that went narrowly wide. The visitors’ young rotating forwards - Durnan, English, Rynhart and Dunne - were putting Wicklow under continuous pressure at the back.
Half-time came and it was 2-0 to the visitors. With the re-start, Wicklow came back hard at Enniscorthy and were adept at putting pressure on the defence.
The hard-working Simmons and Ivan Rothwell in the centre, along with wing-backs Cooke and Andrew Rothwell, though, were making it hard for the home side to get time and space on the ball. Cooke put in a particularly effective man-marking shift on his Wicklow opposite number.
Despite this the home side was creaking and Wicklow were awarded a flurry of penalty corners midway through the second-half. It was during this tense sequence that Simmons picked up a nasty injury to his thumb, forcing him off for some running repairs.
The home side finally got their their reward in disputed circumstances on 54 minutes. Wicklow were awarded yet another penalty corner, and during the goalmouth scramble the ball crossed Hill’s line. Enniscorthy were convinced it was helped over by a Wicklow foot but the officials disagreed, setting up a nerve-wracking finale.
Glen Chapman and his midfield counterpart from Wicklow had been engaged in running battles all afternoon and found themselves on the receiving end of an official warning shortly after the Wicklow goal.
Chapman’s grit and determination to win was mirrored in the efforts of young Seb Rynhart, busily harrying the Wicklow defence as Enniscorthy worked hard in defending high up the pitch. Wicklow earned two penalty corners in the last seven minutes and Hill was forced into a last-gasp save in order to hold on to three precious points for the Slaneysiders.
Doyle’s men have only their second home game of the season this coming Saturday as they take on Railway Union in the Astro Centre.
Squad: Graham Hill, Andrew Rothwell, David Simmons, Ivan Rothwell, Cory Cooke, Glen Chapman, Roy Chapman, Daithí Medcalf, William Durnan, James O’Sullivan, Jacob English, Seb Rynhart, Jacob English.
It was a mixed weekend for the ladies’ second eleven, with a defeat and a win separated by just 24 hours.
Saturday saw the side travel to Lucan to play Weston thirds. The early pressure came from the visitors, with a shot from open play followed by a well-saved penalty corner effort from Avril Buttle.
Weston responded with a penalty corner, with Eleanor Bolger clearing the Enniscorthy lines leading to a counter-attack. Hannah Sweeney’s laser-like pass found Megan Dempsey who was unable to convert.
Hannah Neville proved a major loss, having to go off after receiving a blow to the knee, and with no substitutes Weston were able to find gaps in the Enniscorthy defence, finding themselves two goals to the good at half-time.
The second-half was only a few minutes old when Weston scored their third but from then on Enniscorthy dominated proceedings, and the comeback began. Sweeney had an unlucky miss at goal, then Redmond and Breen also had opportunities.
Hannah Neville, Buttle and Sweeney were particularly dangerous in attack, and Sweeney pulled one back, followed ten minutes later with her second. Enniscorthy, though, ran out of time, leaving Weston as 3-2 winners.
Squad: Mairéad Neville, Eleanor Bolger, Amy D’Alton, Avril Buttle, Hannah Sweeney, Hannah Neville, Sophie Gilliot, Julie Hayes, Orlaith Breen, Laura Redmond, Megan Dempsey.
The ladies’ second eleven then put Saturday’s defeat firmly behind them with a 7-1 thrashing of the Genesis sixth XI on Sunday in Dublin.
Enniscorthy started off brightly with a well-taken goal in the first five minutes from Mairéad Neville. Genesis hit back with a goal from a penalty corner.
The home side thought they had a second when a long long ball from midfield caused confusion in the Enniscorthy defence, but the effort was disallowed.
An avalanche of scores then followed from the 15th minute up until half-time, as Enniscorthy ran amok. Ciara Murphy grabbed two before the interval while Coláiste Bríde student Hannah Sweeney bagged her first to leave the sides four goals apart at the break.
Genesis started the second-half the better, extracting a number of penalty corners from the Enniscorthy defence, but the back division of Eleanor Bolger, Róisín Ní Mhuirí, Amy Dalton and Serena Hatton held firm, while goalkeeper Alice Medcalf’s saves ensured Genesis remained scoreless in the second-half.
Great attacking play from Róisín Treacy set up Hannah Sweeney for her second goal - her fourth of the weekend. In the last passage of play, Avril Buttle scored a great goal to finish the match 7-1, giving the side their first win of the campaign.
Squad: Alice Medcalf, Amy Dalton, Megan Dempsey, Eleanor Bolger, Ciara Murphy, Laura Redmond, Mairéad Neville, Aoife Mernagh, Róisín Ní Mhuirí, Róisín Treacy, Avril Buttle, Serena Hatton, Hannah Sweeney.
The men’s second eleven had a similarly mixed bag of results. On Saturday Portrane was the venue for the Division 7 side and in a fractious encounter - a pair of red cards shown by the officials following a skirmish featuring a large number of players - the home side emerged victorious.
Riley Shoebridge had the north county Dublin side one-nil up at the break, and Rory McKeon doubled their lead after Seamus Stone’s effort was saved by Luke Doyle; Mick Jordan nabbed a consolation goal at the death following a penalty corner for the Wexford men.
On Sunday table-topping Bray were the visitors to the Astro Active Centre and the county Wicklow side were held to their first draw of the season in a vastly-improved performance by Enniscorthy from the previous day. Again, the hosts conceded the opening goal before Daithí Medcalf followed up a Niall Maguire effort to rescue a point.
Finally, the ladies’ third eleven were in Sunday League action against Kilkenny and despite a ‘goal of the season’ effort from Laura O’Leary, the Cats emerged with all three points on a 5-1 scoreline.
The hosts found themselves two goals up before O’Leary’s wonder goal gave Enniscorthy a glimmer of hope. However, the home side slammed the door firmly shut in the second-half, adding three further goals.
Squad: Aoife Foran, Irene Doyle, Linda Durnan, Suzanne Redmond, Ivanna Yates, Melanie Ní Dhuinn, Catherine Oakes, Róisín Bridges, Mairéad Brophy, Laura O’Leary, Emma Doyle, Jacinta Kinsella, Stephanie Kinsella.