E’CORTHYHOCKEY
Enniscorthy Under-16 girls took on Our Lady’s in the Jacqui Potter Cup in Enniscorthy on Sunday in the Astro Centre.
The home side will move on to the next stage of the cup after winning by seven goals to one, with goals from Elaine Quigley (two), Caoimhe Larkin (two), Laura Smith, Martha Dunne and Eimear Doyle.
Last Sunday saw the Enniscorthy Under-14 second year girls play host to Stillorgan in the first of the Minor B League games. Enniscorthy took control from the start and had created three goal chances within the first five minutes.
Their pressure was rewarded after ten minutes with a super goal by Tara Somers. The home side maintained the upper hand for the remainder of the first-half, applying continual pressure on the Stillorgan defence which resulted in a further four goals, from Leah Kidd, Tara Somers and two from Rebecca Ogilvie, one of which was a reverse stick shot from a difficult angle.
The Dubliners continued to work hard and their efforts came to fruition with a goal scored from a short corner just before half-time whistle.
The visitors came out strongly at the beginning of the second-half and applied sustained pressure on the Enniscorthy defence. This resulted in an early goal to bring the score back to 5-2.
Stillorgan’s confidence was now up, having scored two goals without reply, however, the Enniscorthy girls recovered their composure and settled back into their structured passing game.
The home side scored their sixth through Faye Codd and finished strongly. Enniscorthy were well deserving of their 6-2 victory.
Squad: L. Kidd, T. Somers, A. Murphy, F. Codd, R. Ogilvie, L. Sutton, B. O’Brien, L. Jordan, C. Quigley, A. Browne, E. Rothwell, E. Keogh, R. Doyle, E.L. Doran, K. Hennessy, K. Freeman.
A wet day in Stillorgan saw Enniscorthy seconds ladies take on Genesis in the Leinster Cup. They knew it was going to be a tough game from the get go, as the home side started well, but the Wexford side remained strong.
The game was quick to start with Genesis attacking Enniscorthy’s goal. O Muirí was strong in defence, but the home team were eager to gain short corners and quickly secured a goal.
Genesis got several more penalty corners, skilfully saved by ‘keeper Medcalf. Good play up the wing saw Buttle and Hannah Sweeney take excellent shots on goal.
As half-time neared the Enniscorthy ladies began to settle, but they conceded a goal before the whistle.
The second-half began with strong play from both teams. Captain Neville assisted Murphy on an unlucky near goal opportunity.
The Enniscorthy defence featuring Power, O Muirí, Hatton, Graham and Mernagh faced tough competition, with Genesis obtaining three more goals in quick succession.
Despite this defeat, the Enniscorthy women will learn from the tough day at the office and will take on Clontarf next week, where they will be determined to emerge on top.
Squad: Hannah Graham, Laura Redmond, Elaine Hickey, Avril Buttle, Hannah Sweeney, Róisín Ó Muirí, Saoirse Power, Alice Medcalf, Serena Hatton, Orlaith Breen, Aoife Mernagh, Eleanor Bolger, Megan Dempsey, Ciara Murphy, Mairéad Neville.
For only the second time this season, the Enniscorthy first XI men’s team were taking on a side on home turf in the Astro Centre. After the previous week’s derby win over rivals Wicklow, Doyle’s men were taking on Railway Union of South Dublin.
The Wexford side, like the previous week, were first to strike when, after just six minutes, a rampaging Andrew Rothwell slotted the ball to O’Sullivan who scored the goal after Rothwell received a pinpoint delivery from a line ball by Durnan.
The Slaneysiders had their tails up and were awarded a flurry of short corners but the Dubliners were up to the challenge and saw off the home side’s attempts on goal.
The pressure kept coming from Enniscorthy, despite an attempt from Dunne, who forced the young Railway ’keeper into pulling off a good save. It remained a one-goal game at half-time.
Captain Hill challenged his men who had been the dominant side in the first-half to keep putting pressure on their visitors and take all three points. Despite Railway Union starting brightly in the second-half, it took just ten minutes for Hill and his men to double their scoreline, again through O’Sullivan.
O’Sullivan came close to completing his hat-trick minutes later but his attempt went narrowly wide. Medcalf looked certain to make it three goals to nil, but as his shot beat the ‘keeper the ball struck the post.
Midway through the second-half Doyle’s men did eventually make it three goals to nil, from a short corner scored by Roy Chapman.
Railway didn’t give up and Hill and his defence were called upon a number of times in the final quarter, but he wasn’t letting go of his clean sheet. The Wexford men saw out the game, winning by three goals to nil, passing the ball around the team, keeping the ball well away from the visitors’ grasp.
Enniscorthy will be on the road again this coming weekend as they make the journey to Dublin to take on Weston.
Squad: Graham Hill, Andrew Rothwell, David Simmons, Ivan Rothwell, Cory Cooke, Glen Chapman, Roy Chapman, Daithí Medcalf, William Durnan, James O’Sullivan, Ciarán O’Leary, Charlie Dunne, Jacob English.