Write a commentPortadown 1's 3-4 Newry 1's
N. Dinsmore, N. Liggett, N. McKnight, N. Davenport, P. English, C. Henning, C. McKnight, J. Taylor, J. Greer, R. Irwin, K. McCombe, R. Nummy, K. McWilliams
In recent meetings this fixture has provided a a bucket load of goals with the reverse fixture earlier in the season ending 5-4 to Newry and again this match did not
disappoint. Both teams needed to win to be in with any sort of chance of gate crashing the top two. It was Newry who started the better of the two teams proven to be more eager in the tackle and drew first blood early on when Jeremy Greer picked up a Robert Irwin cross and slotted home past the keeper to give the away side an early lead. It wasn’t long before the lead was doubled when Colin McKnight was on hand to pick up the scraps after good save from a short corner from the keeper. Portadown started to come back into the game and their were starting to find their passing range, they broke away quickly and unlucky for Newry a cross was deflected into his own net by Neil McKnight. Newry managed to get a third just before half time with a short corner routine straight off the training pitch with Kyle McCombe firing home.
Portadown started to press forward in the second half putting pressure on the Newry defence but this left spaces at their back which Colin McKnight and Robert Irwin exploited with a great interchange of passes before Irwin slipped in McKnight for the fourth and a strong lead. Portadown pushed even harder now and their persistence paid off with two quick fire goals midway through the half to leave a nervy end to the match. Newry however managed to hold out and come away with all three points in this great showing of hockey.
Newry Ladies 2-0 South Antrim Ladies
H Kee D L Inns , D Mc Minn , A Gamble, C Gamble, J Heatrick, K Baird, J Cochrane, N Shields, A Magowan,T Mc Ilroy L Girvan, C Waddell, J Heatrick, A Blakely.
On Saturday, 2nd February Newry Olympic Hockey Ladies 1st XI played South Antrim 1st XI Ladies at home. From the whistle Newry forwards and mids were on the attack into the sun with the South Antrim pass back playing the ball down their strong right side but Alison Gamble in defence successfully won the ball back passing it forward to Taja Mc Elroy in midfield position who fed the ball through to Kathryn Baird in left wing. The ball travelled over to Laverne Inns, centre forward at the top left hand side of the circle who had no option but to reverse hit at the goal scoring for Newry in the first four minutes. South Antrim battled back and were awarded a couple of short corners which were successfully well cleared by keeper Helen kee with the ball being carried forward up the pitch again with some beautiful play between Diane Mc Minn, sweeper and Judith Cochrane in midfield. Newry were also awarded two short corners in the last ten minutes of the first half but unfortunately failed to score.
At the beginning of the second half both teams came out strong again with Newry defence Clarie Gamble playing the ball strong through to Aimee Magowan, midfield and Laura Girvan, right wing, driving the ball all the way up to the circle resulting in Newry being awarded a corner in the first ten minutes. South Antrim saved the ball but Aimee Magowan came right back at the South Antrim side within minutes and scored lifting the ball into the top right hand corner of the net helping Newry to secure a comfortable two nil lead. Both sides kept the pressure on throughout the remainder of the match and both teams narrowly missed scoring a couple of times. It was a keenly fought match with great teamwork on the Newry side helped by brilliant coaching from Norman Toombs. Final score Newry Olympics 2 South Antrim 0
Result:
Banbridge 2's 5-1 Newry 2's
Scorer A. Henning
South Antrim 3's v Newry 3's Postponed
