It took extra time and the drama of sudden death penalty flicks, but Enniscorthy eliminated title holders Kilkenny in the semi finals of the Leinster Hockey Association Trophy at the Astro Active Centre on Sunday. 

A determined Enniscorthy side came out fighting under the watchful eye of coach Donal Doyle, winning a penalty corner in the opening 5 minutes. However, true to form Kilkenny's defence held strong. The Cats fought back, keeping the Enniscorthy back line of Julie Watchorn, Laura Smith, Katie Owen and Aine O'Brien on their toes. Kilkenny got the opening goal of the game from a penalty corner strike, and this was enough to secure a half time lead.

The second half saw Enniscorthy continue to show their determination with great play in midfield by Ruth Harrington, Jessie Flood, Olive Lett and Leah Chapman. Indeed it was the latter who was pivotal in creating the Slaneysiders equaliser, sending a quick sideline ball to Sonja Rynhart, who broke through Kilkenny's defence before connecting with Anna Flood who coolly slotted home.

Despite strong attacking play by both sides, it was the defences who came out on top over the remainder of the half. With the two sides deadlocked at one-all, extra time was required. Chances were at a premium for both teams, and it was time for the dreaded penalty flicks.

The drama continued when after 5 shots on goal for each side, the hosts and Kilkenny were tied at 3-3, with Enniscorthy's goals coming from Watchorn, Smith and O'Brien. Sudden death followed, with Enniscorthy's goalkeeper Fiona Rothwell clearing Kilkenny's shot over the goal and a remarkably calm Aine O'Brien proving the heroine, finishing the ball into the bottom right corner and sending Enniscorthy into the final.

Bray or Monkstown await the cathedral town women, with the final set to take place on Sunday 9th April in Three Rock Rovers, Rathfarnham.

Enniscorthy Squad: Fiona Rothwell; Julie Watchorn; Aine O'Brien; Laura Smith; Katie Owen; Jessie Flood; Olive Lett; Leah Chapman; Marti Rudd; Sonja Rynhart; Anna Flood; Laura O' Leary; Ruth Harrington; Laura Bailey; May Wickham 
Coach: Donal Doyle. Manager: Irene Doyle

​Last Sunday morning, 12 March 2017, Enniscorthy Ladies 1st hockey team managed to secure themselves a place in the third round of the Ladies Hockey Association Trophy by beating Wexford Ladies 1st team 1-0.
 
The match got off to a poor start for Enniscorthy as the Wexford Ladies attacked in full force. This was the fourth time that these two strong teams have play each other this year and Wexford were thirsty for a third win. They attacked mainly down Enniscorthy’s left side, the more difficult side to defend, but excellent work by Olive Lett, Katie Owen and Julie Watchorn managed to keep the Wexford ladies out of the circle. Powerful hit-outs by Watchorn were unfortunately intercepted by Wexford, which got them a shot on goal, thankfully the skilled goalkeeper, Fiona Rothwell saved the first attempt, but a second shot which looked sure to be a goal for Wexford was stopped by Owen and was cleared by one of Enniscorthy’s youngest players, Laura Smith. The older Flood sister, Jessie, moved the ball around the pitch to switch the play to the right side. Fantastic passing between Sonja Rynhart, Marti Rudd, Leah Chapman and Anna Flood got the girls into the circle where they were awarded a short corner. To Enniscorthy’s disappointment, the Wexford ladies saved the goal and moved the ball quickly down to the other side of the pitch. The Enniscorthy ladies put their fitness to the test by racing back down the field to defend. An accidental foot resulted in a short corner for Wexford. However, the Wexford attackers were no match for Enniscorthy’s defenders, Smith showed no fear and defended a high ball into the circle, keeping the score level at 0-0 for the half time whistle.
 
The Enniscorthy Ladies came out of the team talk with their coach, Donal Doyle, eager for victory and dominated for the entire second half. Accurate passing from May Wickham kept and quick frees taken by Ruth Harrington up the right line to Rudd. Passing from Rudd to Stephanie Kinsella and Rynhart caught the Wexford girls off guard. Rudd managed to win the Slaneysider’s a second short corner by hitting a Wexford foot. A fantastic pass from the younger Flood sister, Anna, directly to Rynhart gave her that extra second to pick her target before she powerfully hit the ball directly past all the Wexford defenders and goalkeeper and into the back corner of the goal putting our ladies in the lead. After push back the Wexford ladies fought back bringing the ball into the circle, but a high ball injured young May Wickham who had been playing brilliantly. Laura Bailey, another of the younger girls, subbed on for May and dominated her skilled marker from the word go. The Wexford ladies managed to win another short corner as the final whistle blew, but ‘Scorthy’s defence was too close to victory to let in a final goal, the game finished 1-0. Fantastic play by the ladies on both teams but Enniscorthy Ladies triumphed leaving them to look forward to the next round of the LHA trophy.  
 
Enniscorthy Squad: Fiona Rothwell, Katie Owen, Julie Watchorn, Laura Smith, May Wickham, Jessie Flood, Olive Lett, Ruth Harrington, Marti Rudd, Sonja Rynhart, Anna Flood, Laura O’Leary, Leah Chapman, Laura Bailey, Stephanie Kinsella. Coach: Donal Doyle. Manager: Irene Doyle

On the last day of the league and everything to play for, for the hockey men of Enniscorthy. Coming into the last day of the league and with three teams were vying for two promotion stops Enniscorthy knew travelling to take on forth place UCD that a win or a draw would be enough to seal their place in Division 4 for the 2017/18 season, but anything less would most probably have seen local rivals Wicklow and Dublin side Clontarf take top two spots.
 
Donal Doyle's Enniscorthy men started well under the beautiful spring sun without the ever solid defender Martyn Vietch and one of his top scorers Edmundus Liukimas. The depth now available to the Wexford men is testament to coach Doyle and manager Fraser Rothwell in their hard work over the last number of seasons.
 
Saturday saw another youngster getting his chance to shine as U16 player Seb Rynhart was included in the match day panel after a series of impressive performances at under 16 and second XI levels.
 
Enniscorthy's forward line of Jowett, Duran and Cooke from the start were keeping the the UCD backline on their toes, their collective pace being key in stretching the students. However, it was far from a one sided start as early on UCD were awarded a succession of short corners. Goalkeeper Graham Hill was called into action quickly and made one vital interception  with his leg at full stretch, managing to nudge the ball just off his line. Doyle's men didn't panic and pushed forward with the Chapman brothers and Medcalf in midfield supplying their forwards with positive ball. 
 
Enniscorthy's first goal came on the 15 minute mark when the older Chapman brother, Glenn, won possession from UCD in the middle of the park and worked the ball up into the circle to Jowett. His pass then found Roy Chapman who claimed one of his most important goals this season. 

The Wexford men doubled their lead 5 minutes later. Rogan broke down the right side passing to Jowett on the top of the UCD circle who then played a slick reverse pass to Seb Rynhart. The under 16 star had the awareness to spot Rogan coming in on the back post, who dived for the ball to get it over the line. UCD were well able to break and had some great pace down both wings, but the defence of Simmons and three Rothwells- Clive, Ivan and Andrew- worked hard to cut out the danger. 
 
At half time Donal Doyle's men were in a strong position but needed to stay solid and pin the Dublin side deep into their own half. The fresh legs from the likes of Jason Rothwell and Hogan were key in the Wexford side's win. Enniscorthy came close to increasing their lead on a number of occasions with the College 'keeper having to pull off some great saves from shots from Rynhart, Jason Rothwell and Jowett. UCD pushed hard and in the last few minutes of the game were awarded a number of short corners but Enniscorthy and Hill in particular- who had some immense saves- kept a clean sheet and saw the game out as it finished 2-0 to the delight of the Wexford side and their supporters.
 
With the three points secured there was an anxious wait for  news from East Glendalough School whee Wicklow hosted Clontarf. A win or draw for the visitors would mean a third league title in four years for Enniscorthy., and after a dramatic match in Wicklow town Clontarf emerged victorious: Enniscorthy were once again, champions.
 
Enniscorthy Squad: Graham Hill; Clive Rothwell; David Simmons; Ivan Rothwell; Andrew Rothwell; Glenn Chapman; Roy Chapman; Daithi Medcalf; Liam Jowett; Cory Cooke; William Durnan; Jason Rothwell; Pearse Rogan; Cian Hogan; Seb Rynhart. Coach: Donal Doyle. Manager: Fraser Rothwell.

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

​It was a second-half horror show for Enniscorthy's first-choice eleven on Saturday as they conceded five without reply against Clontarf, severely denting their title hopes on the same day rivals Wicklow thrashed Avoca 8-0.
 
Despite the scoreline at the finish, the opening half was a rather even affair. Chances for both sides were at a premium, with most of the action between the two 23 metre lines. Pearse Rogan had perhaps Enniscorthy's best chance of the match at the half hour mark when denied by some excellent goalkeeping by Clontarf's Kevin Warren. Jason Rothwell worked his way down the left and his cross found Rogan, who discovered himself to be- all too briefly- in a one on one situation with Warren, who was able to scramble the ball clear.
 
The sides were deadlocked at the break, but the healthy attendance had little idea of what was to follow. Four minutes into the second half the visitors had the lead, and doubled their lead on 46 minutes. Pearse Rogan-  Enniscorthy's prime attacking threat on the day- almost pulled one back on 50 minutes when a spectacular reverse stick effort went over the bar.
 
And then the collapse came. Over the next twelve minutes Enniscorthy's creaking defence leaked three goals- one from the game's solitary penalty corner on 60 minutes, converted by Andrew Poynter- wiping out all hopes of a comeback. With just minutes to go Roy Chapman forced another quality save from Warren but by then the only matter at issue was Enniscorthy's goal difference. The Wexford men travel to UCD for a 1.30pm tip off next Saturday needing a favour from Clontarf, who take on Wicklow on what will be a nail-biting day for supporters of two sides an hour apart on the N11.
 
Enniscorthy Squad: Graham Hill; Clive Rothwell; David Simmons; Martyn Vietch; Ivan Rothwell; Andrew Rothwell; Glenn Chapman; Roy Chapman; Cory Cooke; William Durnan; Daithi Medcalf; Jason Rothwell; Edmundas Liukimas; Pearse Rogan. Coach: Donal Doyle. Manager: Fraser Rothwell.