Enniscorthy 1st XI men were on the road again last weekend as they travelled to Lucan to take on the men from Weston Hockey Club. Enniscorthy knew it was going to one of the biggest challenges thus far in the season as their hosts for the day sat in second place before the days games, just one point ahead of themselves.
Weston started strong and put pressure on the visitors, but captain Hill and his side were dealing with the pressure. The first half was end-to-end attacks with both sides trying hard to find the opener. Durnan, English and Dunne all came agonisingly close for the visitors but it stayed nil all. On the stroke of half time Weston were awarded a short corner and a brilliantly struck drag flick forced Hill into pulling off one of the saves of the game.
Halftime came and it was still anyone’s game. Enniscorthy needed to go back to basics and hold on to the ball and make their opposition work for the ball. However, it was Weston who held on to the ball and were putting pressure on Enniscorthy and throughout the second half were awarded a number of short corners. The Dubliners would eventually score from a short corner despite the efforts of Rothwell and Hill who both got touches on the ball, but it still found its way into the back of the Enniscorthy goal. There was still plenty of time for the visitors to get back into the game. All across the team Enniscorthy were putting in 100% effort with the Chapman bothers leading by example with their usual Trojan efforts. O’Sullivan and his wing forwards were continuing to cause the Dublin sides defence issue. The west Dublin side were continuing to put pressure on Enniscorthy, forcing Doyle’s men to defend for extended periods of the second half, Ivan Rothwell and Rynhart were instrumental in covering back and on a number of occasions were the difference in stopping Weston’s attacks. Enniscorthy came close to leaving things up with just minutes to go when Durnan and Andrew Rothwell linked up well and a ball in from the latter found Rynhart but his shot went narrowly over the bar. It finished with the spoils going to the Dublin side. Not Enniscorthy’s strongest performance, but determination and hard work was in full evidence.
They will move forward and look to this coming weekends game where they will look to make amends when they take on table toppers Pembroke Wanderers in Enniscorthy.
Squad: Graham Hill, Andrew Rothwell, David Simmons, Ivan Rothwell, Cory Cooke Glen Chapman, Roy Chapman, Daithi Medcalf, William Durnan, James O'Sullivan, Ciaran O’Leary, Charlie Dunne, Seb Rynhart, Jacob English