Write a commentNewry Olympic Ladies 1st XI 4 – Rainey 0
On Saturday 4th November 2017, Newry Olympic Hockey Ladies 1st XI played Rainey Ladies at home in the first round of the Intermediate Cup.
Rainey won the toss and chose pass back. From the whistle Rainey put the pressure on and had some good passes down towards Newry's circle but with great tackles from Newry's sweeper Laura Simpson,
they were quick to win the ball back preventing Rainey from entering the Home circle. Newry's defense worked well around the back to distribute the ball up to Rollins in left mid who laid a pass of to Shannen Robinson in left wing who drove the ball into the circle and put the ball past the keeper awarding Newry with the first goal of the match. The ball was injected out by Kathryn to Shannon at the top of the circle who took a straight shot on goal but was rebounded out by the goalie where Suzy had a strike on goal but was yet again deflected off the goalie onto the end of Laverne's stick who flicked the ball over the goalie into the back of the net awarding Newry the first goal of the game.
With not long to go until half time, Newry defense continued to keep Rianey out of Newry's circle where sweeper Simpson distributed the ball up to the mid field where Kathryn Baird in centre mid drove the ball forward and laid a pass off to centre forward Laverne who passed the ball into the circle to Stephanie Smart at the right who passed across the circle to Robinson at the left post who put the ball into the back of the net.
At half time the score was 2-0 to Newry.
At the beginning of the second half both teams came out strong but with some great passing among the Newry girls they were soon awarded a penalty corner. The ball was injected out by Baird to Rollins at the top of the circle who passed the ball back to Baird at left post who deflected the ball into the net awarding Newry their 3rd goal. Rainey continued to try and drive the ball towards the Newry keeper but with tight marking by Victoria Lewis and Rebecca Murdock they had few chances.
It wasn't long before Newry were yet again awarded a penalty corner which was injected out to Laura who switched the ball to Suzanne who put the ball past the keeper making the final score 4-0 to Newry. Player of the match was Shannen Robinson in left wing.
NOHC Team: K Baird (Captain), A Blakely, V Lewis, L Gamble, C Lambe, S Rollins, DL Inns, S Robinson, S Smart, B Murdock, K McCullough, L Simpson
Kilkeel 1’s vs Newry 1’s
Match abandoned after 25mins due to floodlight failure.
Ballymena 1’s 2-2 Newry 2’s
Newry travelled to Ballymena on Saturday in their latest league match against the league favourites. The home side were well drilled and started well, but Newry were strong in defence and were able to keep them at bay. It was Newry who had the first chance which fell to McCafferty but he was unable to convert. With 20mins gone, Ballymena went one up after a quick counter attack. However Newry went straight up the other end to win a short corner and scored with Simon McCafferty driving the ball home.
The second half went much the same as the first with both sides cancelling eachother out. With 15mins remaining Ballymena got their second after the ball trickled over the line from a short corner. Newry huffed and puffed but could not find a break through, however with only 2 minutes remaining they won a short corner and again Simon McCafferty was on hand to show a Cool head and slot the ball Home into the corner to give Newry a share of the points.
Team: Collum, E Graham, A Henning, G Alderdice, A Baird, G Moffett, M Mccullough, A Foster, J Porter, S McCafferty, A Marks, S Graham
