CLUB CALL
E’CORTHY HOCKEY
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.
UNITED STRIDERS A.C.
The Striders had over 30 Juveniles in action in Navan on bank holiday Saturday at the Leinster-cross country championships for even age groups.
With some fields larger than 200 of the best provincial athletes, competition was very strong. However, we are very lucky to have a great bunch of under-age athletes and it was no surprise that they performed so well at this level.
First up, in the Under-10 event, was Heather Costello, who got the day off to a great start, finishing well inside the top half of the field over a tough 1k course.
Over 2k, the Under-12 boys’ team performed really well, earning eighth place in the club team event and helping Wexford to fifth place in the county team event. Ronan Shannon was first Strider over the line ahead of Seán Lennon, Tomasso Hickey, Sam Myers and Olan Delaney, with all boys putting in big efforts.
With the distance up to a testing 3k, Ciara Murphy and Kelly Corbett were part of a Wexford squad that placed seventh. The Under-14 boys’ Striders team created a slice of club history, recording individual first and second places in a Leinster cross-country event for the first time.
The eight-strong Striders squad all performed heroically to win both the club title and help Wexford to the county title. Aidan Shannon was the star man for the Striders, taking another Leinster gold, ahead of Myles Hewlett, winning silver, out of his age group, with Darragh Flannelly a handful of seconds back in seventh place.
The three boys sat back in the chasing pack for the first part of the race and all moved into contention with a kilometre or so to go. Aidan powered up the hill to win gold in great style, ahead of Myles who made up considerable ground to take second place in the final strides.
With Darragh finishing strongly to claim his individual medal, Cosmo Hewlett powered home to secure the fourth spot that won the Striders a Leinster club title. Eoin Shannon, Finn Kelly, Owen Lennon and Caolan Costello made up the golden squad, with all performing remarkably well.
The Under-16 girls’ team did a fantastic job of following the golden boys, to take fifth place in the club event. Despite being out of age, Erinn Shannon was first Strider home ahead of Clodagh Foran, Eve Byrne, Aisling Power and Ellie Quinn.
Adam O’Connor, running a year out of age, was first Wexford athlete home in the Under-16 boys’ event. Striders Aaron Browne and Ryan Kielthy ran very well to be part of the Wexford team which finished sixth in the county event.
The final under-age races of the day led to more medals for the Striders. The Under-18 girls’ squad of Grace Costello, Rebecca Bawden, Gráinne Flannelly, Alannah Byrne and Joanne Kelly won a bronze in the club event.
In the Under-18 boys’ race over 6k, Aedan Rogers won his individual medal with a top ten finish, ahead of James Boland who registered another really good finish.
Later in the afternoon, Alan O’Connor led the Striders men’s team to a fantastic fifth place in the Leinster Novice cross-country team event. Over the 6k undulating course, the Striders all performed well, with Alan’s top 20 place being the stand-out performance. John McGrath, George Delaney and Ted Flannelly completed the team.
To complete a very busy and successful weekend, on the Sunday the Striders had over 20 competing at the Dublin City Marathon.
In a great atmosphere all Striders completed the course, achieving lots of P.B’s along the way, including first clubman home, Paul Doran, in a remarkable time of two hours 44 minutes on his debut marathon. Well done to all.
ST. JOSEPH’S A.C.
In the athletic world, the October bank holiday weekend means only one thing, the Dublin City Marathon.
St. Joseph’s were proudly represented on the start line by an amazing number of 14 runners, all with many months of hard training behind them. A total of 26.2 miles of running faced them with all the physical and mental reserves each of them could muster to be called upon.
Making a return to marathon running after a five-year absence, Patrick Bookle led the team home in an excellent time of 3.11.04.
A debut marathon is a daunting experience but David Lanigan made light of the challenge in crossing the finish line in a superb 3:22:42 and being the second St. Joseph’s athlete home.
Anne Watkins was next of the St. Joseph’s gang to finish, making marathon running look easy in a fantastic time of 3:41:29.
Another club stalwart made a return to marathon running for the race, and no one can call upon more experience and toughness than Larry Leacy who crossed the line in 3:54:22. Paul Sheehan enjoys his running and even the rigours of a marathon could not stop him smiling and waving to supporters in finishing in 3:56:15.
Anita Barry is so used to the marathon scene with the Marathon Club of Ireland, that at this stage it’s just another 26-mile run to her and she arrived at the finish in 3:58:07.
Breda Hennessy, in her seventh Dublin marathon, looked comfortable all the way and she arrived at the finish line in 4:18.22. Marathon running and injury unfortunately go together and Tom McDonald bravely limped to the finish line in 4:25:57. All the early morning long runs paid off for Mary McDonald who finished in a fine 4:30:22.
Sinéad Ryan-Croke and Susan Lanigan finished close together in 4.42.21 and 4:42:27 respectively, with Susan and husband David both completing their first marathons.
Jackie O’Shaughnessy came from France to run in her debut marathon and finished proudly in 5:37:36. Catherine Hennessy and Anna O’Dwyer trained together and crossed the line together in 5:49:54.
The county marathon was run in conjunction with the Dublin marathon with three athletes to score on club teams. The St. Joseph’s women’s team of Ann, Anita and Breda finished second club in the county, with the men’s team of Patrick, David and Larry finishing third.
To all 14 of our club members who completed the Dublin Marathon, all your hard work and training paid off, and you should be well proud of your accomplishment.
The Leinster cross-country even ages and Novice championships took place in Navan on October 28.
The day started with a non-championship race for Under-10 athletes, and Joss O’Connor, double county champion at the Under-10 and Under-11 age groups, stepped up to provincial level and stamped his class on the race, almost leading from start to finish to record a fantastic win.
In the Under-10 girls’ race, Sarah Foley ran well in this, her first-ever Leinster cross country race, but finished outside the medals.
Huge fields in excess of 150 athletes were a feature of the Under-12 races, and the girls’ race over 2,000 metres saw wonderful performances from the St. Joseph’s crew.
Grace Glennon finished in a superb 15th position and was a scorer on the Kilkenny county team which won gold.
Not far behind was Maeve Bookle in an excellent 24th position, with great runs also by Eabha Mullally (66th), Mairéad Mullally (86th), Aoife Lanigan (117th), Lily Doyle (128th) and Caoimhe Barry (142nd), bringing the girls to seventh club team overall..
A challenging 3,000 metres faced the Under-14 athletes, and Danielle Griffin made it look easy in crossing the line in an excellent 20th position and scoring on the county team which won gold.
The other three girls battled all the way to the finish with Áine Purcell 59th, Rachel Foley 78th and Ciara Mullally, bravely running with a chest infection to ensure the club had four runners to make a team, 92nd. The girls were ninth club overall in Leinster.
Jamie O’Connor and Katie Bookle kept the club colours flying in the Under-14 boys’ and Under-16 girls’ races, finishing in 65th and 50th positions respectively.
The Novice ladies’ Leinster championship saw Sally Forristal continue a great year of performances, finishing fifth and placing second on the county team which won gold.
A huge field of athletes were spread across the start line for the Novice men’s championship, and Stephen O’Connor was the sole St. Joseph’s representative, finishing in 95th place.