Despite Sunday afternoon’s bitter wind, the battle for a spot in the plate final took place on EHC’s home turf. Enniscorthy Ladies 1st team took on a physical Carlow side, resulting in a 3-0 victory for the Slaney-siders.
From the initial pushback from Carlow, Enniscorthy dominated the game. Possession was a key indicator of this domination as passes right round the pitch were linked together with a newfound ease for the Enniscorthy women. Despite holding a great deal of possession, the home team found it hard to find the back of the net as panic in the circle took away their chances. The long awaited sound of ball to backboard contact was eventually heard in the latter half of the half as Anna Flood attacked the right-hand baseline, offloading a perfectly placed pass across Carlow’s circle to Sonja Rynhart who proceeded to seal the deal by slotting Flood’s pass into the left hand corner with one sweep of her stick. The first half also saw some excellent play from our younger players May Wickham and Laura Bailey who’s defensive skills proved vital at times when Carlow pressured the home side. An unfortunate event of a disallowed goal from Anna Flood as the half time whistle blew put a dampener on the half but the overall play was outstanding. Half time: Enniscorthy 1, Carlow 0.
After an uplifting half time talk, Enniscorthy were keen to make up for lost goal opportunities and presented with confidence. Passes between Katie Owen, Laura Smith and Julie Watchorn in defence allowed Enniscorthy to shift play across the pitch allowing some excellent attacks down the right hand side by Olive Lett and Laura O’Leary. O’Leary’s efforts were rewarded as a cross-circle shot on goal was assisted with a final touch from Anna Flood to put the Enniscorthy ladies 2-0 up. Carlow’s press allowed Julie Watchorn to place her hit-outs through the gaps with Marti Rudd finding herself at the receiving end. Rudd displayed confidence in her reverse stick stopping whilst proceeding to assist the play toward Sonja Rynhart using Jessie Flood as a linking player when necessary. Several more attacks on goal were broken down by Carlow’s defence but Flood Jnr soon fund space to dribble around Carlow’s defence and keeper to score her second goal of the match. Soon after, Fiona Breen had spectators on edge as one of her many attacks resulted in an open wound on her eye following a collision with a Carlow stick and ruling her out of the game. Further attacks down the right hand side kept Enniscorthy pushing forward in hope for more goals but the game ended triumphantly with a 3-0 victory and a sense of pride in being ‘cute’ in the circle as earlier advised by coach Donal Doyle.
Enniscorthy firsts confirmed a place in the South East Shield Final and eagerly await their chance to be titleholders.
Enniscorthy Squad: Fiona Rothwell, Katie Owen, Julie Watchorn, Laura Smith, May Wickham, Jessie Flood, Olive Lett, Marti Rudd, Sonja Rynhart, Anna Flood, Laura O’Leary, Fiona Breen, Laura Bailey. Coach: Donal Doyle. Manager: Irene Doyle
From the initial pushback from Carlow, Enniscorthy dominated the game. Possession was a key indicator of this domination as passes right round the pitch were linked together with a newfound ease for the Enniscorthy women. Despite holding a great deal of possession, the home team found it hard to find the back of the net as panic in the circle took away their chances. The long awaited sound of ball to backboard contact was eventually heard in the latter half of the half as Anna Flood attacked the right-hand baseline, offloading a perfectly placed pass across Carlow’s circle to Sonja Rynhart who proceeded to seal the deal by slotting Flood’s pass into the left hand corner with one sweep of her stick. The first half also saw some excellent play from our younger players May Wickham and Laura Bailey who’s defensive skills proved vital at times when Carlow pressured the home side. An unfortunate event of a disallowed goal from Anna Flood as the half time whistle blew put a dampener on the half but the overall play was outstanding. Half time: Enniscorthy 1, Carlow 0.
After an uplifting half time talk, Enniscorthy were keen to make up for lost goal opportunities and presented with confidence. Passes between Katie Owen, Laura Smith and Julie Watchorn in defence allowed Enniscorthy to shift play across the pitch allowing some excellent attacks down the right hand side by Olive Lett and Laura O’Leary. O’Leary’s efforts were rewarded as a cross-circle shot on goal was assisted with a final touch from Anna Flood to put the Enniscorthy ladies 2-0 up. Carlow’s press allowed Julie Watchorn to place her hit-outs through the gaps with Marti Rudd finding herself at the receiving end. Rudd displayed confidence in her reverse stick stopping whilst proceeding to assist the play toward Sonja Rynhart using Jessie Flood as a linking player when necessary. Several more attacks on goal were broken down by Carlow’s defence but Flood Jnr soon fund space to dribble around Carlow’s defence and keeper to score her second goal of the match. Soon after, Fiona Breen had spectators on edge as one of her many attacks resulted in an open wound on her eye following a collision with a Carlow stick and ruling her out of the game. Further attacks down the right hand side kept Enniscorthy pushing forward in hope for more goals but the game ended triumphantly with a 3-0 victory and a sense of pride in being ‘cute’ in the circle as earlier advised by coach Donal Doyle.
Enniscorthy firsts confirmed a place in the South East Shield Final and eagerly await their chance to be titleholders.
Enniscorthy Squad: Fiona Rothwell, Katie Owen, Julie Watchorn, Laura Smith, May Wickham, Jessie Flood, Olive Lett, Marti Rudd, Sonja Rynhart, Anna Flood, Laura O’Leary, Fiona Breen, Laura Bailey. Coach: Donal Doyle. Manager: Irene Doyle
