Newry Olympic Ladies 2s 2-1 Dromore Ladies 7s

On Friday 27th September 2024, Newry Olympic Hockey Ladies 2nd XI played Dromore 7s at home in their first game of 2024/25 in the Ulster Hockey Junior 11 League.

Dromore won the toss and chose the pass back to start the match.

The visitors tried to keep possession from the start, however Olympic's Ali Benson in centre-mid made a great interception to pick up the ball and drove up the right with some lovely one-two play with Alissa Cromie in mid-field and quickly passed the ball through the Dromore defence to Captain Laverne Inns, who took the first shot on goal which was well saved by the Dromore keeper.

Forwards Sarah Knight and Katie McFarland kept switching the ball in attack and forced Dromore to check back into defence in order to keep the home side from scoring. Dromore were extremely quick to retaliate and were in the Newry circle within seconds trying to score against the Olympic keeper Abby Moffett, but defence Chrissie McAuley and Jodie Freeman blocked any chance of scoring and kept the Dromore forwards at bay.

Within ten minutes of the second quarter, Newry started to roll-on and roll-off players from their 14 strong squad and with lovely one-two play between Diane McMinn-Johnston and Jessica McCullough, the ball was slipped through to Sarah Knight at the top of the circle, who turned and lifted the ball into the Dromore net putting Newry into a well deserved one nil lead. Captain Inns kept the pressure up with a couple of reverse slaps on goal and Sarah Knight had a couple of crash balls struck hard at goal, but the Dromore keeper foiled these attempts keeping the score one-nil to Newry at half time.

During the third quarter the Olympic side settled more into the game, however with Dromore using the 4-4-2 formation, Newry keeper, Abbey Moffett felt the pressure with three impending corners. Rebekah McFarland marked her player tightly and worked well with Sarah Lawson, to safely clear the ball to keep the Newry goal safe.  Five minutes into the quarter, Sarah Irwin fell upon a rebound at the top of the Dromore "D" and walloped the ball into the Dromore goal, putting Newry into a two-nil lead.

Unfortunately, at the start of the final quarter Dromore gained another corner, and after trying a switch they eventually found the back of the Newry net, making the score 2 -1.

Newry retaliated and pushed high, with Caragh McGaffin checking back to foil any drive from Dromore and keep them out of the danger zone. The home side continued to play hard until the final whistle and with a fantastic team effort, deservedly won their first match of the league in the new season.