Newry Olympic Ladies 1-11 Limavady Ladies

On Saturday 2^nd October, Newry Olympic ladies first XI played league leaders Limavady, at home at the Belfast Road.

A very strong Limavady side were on the attack from the first whistle, forcing the Newry ladies to work hard to defend their goal. Unfortunately, Limavady scored within the first 5 minutes, but Newry kept their heads up and fought back with some great passing between mid-field and forwards but just couldn’t force their way into the Limavady circle.

At the end of the first quarter the home side were 3 nil down. To their credit, the young Newry team were determined to keep fighting back, learn from the experience of playing a top team and enjoy the game.

From the start of the second quarter, Limavady were still pushing forward, keeping the pressure on Newry’s defence, but backs Chrissie McCauley, Jodie Freeman, Sarah McNeilly and Abbey Haire showed great spirit and fought hard to clear the ball from the circle. Limavady were eventually awarded a penalty corner and despite the home team’s quick run out, the ball found the back of the net.

In the third quarter, Newry started off strong and determined with great runs by forwards Sarah Brooks and Rose Clarke who won Newry a short corner. The ball was injected by Kathryn Baird to Laverne Inns at the top of the circle, who slipped the ball to Rachael Greer for a shot. The firm strike rebounded off the keeper’s pads back to Inns, who slammed the ball into the net for Newry’s first goal of the season.

It wasn’t long before Limavady scored yet again, but the Newry ladies kept fighting. Despite more goals from the visiting team, Newry gave it their all until the final whistle. Newry keeper, Katie McCullough, performed heroics throughout the game, making save after save to keep the score down, but couldn’t have done any more to stop the away team going home with a 1-11 win.

It was a very tough game for the Newry girls against the league leaders, but they will be stronger for the experience!  The team will learn from seeing the quick and accurate passing between the Limavady players and finding out how that makes it so difficult to make an interception to get the ball back.

Having only played two matches, the team is making great progress. They're still finding their feet in the league, with many of the girls playing Senior hockey for the first time. More match practice will help the team continue to develop.

Newry Olympic Ladies 1s

K. McCullough, K. Baird (Capt), L. Inns, R. Greer, C. McCauley, J. Freeman, S. Moffett, L. Murdock, S. McNeilly, S. Adams, R. Clarke, S. Brooks, A. Haire