Enniscorthy Hockey Club senior men 1st had their first outing in the Leinster Junior Cup on Saturday last as they made the trip up the M11 to East Glendalough School in Wicklow town for the first South East derby of the season. These two teams have met a number of times in friendlies over the last number of years, with all games being very close encounters. Unfortunately for the Slaneysiders Wicklow have come out on top on most occasions and Saturday had a similar outcome as the hosts emerged with a narrow 2-1 win.
Wicklow started strongly, putting in the first attacking move of the game but through defender Andrew Rothwell Enniscorthy cleared the ball to safety. The visitors then counter-attacked; Clive Rothwell sending an aerial ball over the heads of the midfielders to find the his forwards and the away team got a shot away but the effort was saved by the Wicklow goalkeeper. The game settled down into a typical cup tie, with tension fizzling throughout. It was last year's division 6 runners-up, though, who struck first. Wicklow attacked down the left hand side; the ball was fed across the goalmouth to find centre forward James O’Sullivan- a man that many of the Enniscorthy players know well from their days of playing together with the now-defunct South East Wanderers.
It only took a minute for Enniscorthy to fight back and find the back of the net through an attack down the right. The Garden County men attempted to clear the ball from defence, but it found an Enniscorthy stick, which raised the ball off the ground enough for the oncoming Keith Ogilvie to meet the ball in mid air with a brilliantly struck goal. Wicklow in reply went on the attack straightaway but the County Wexford side's goalkeeper Graham Hill was more than up to the task and cleared the ball from a two on one attack on his goal. Wicklow lost their goal scorer in the late stages of the first half as O’Sullivan had to be helped off the pitch.
The Slaneysiders started the second period strongly with a number of attacks on the Wicklow goal but a second could not be found. Hill was called upon once again from a beautifully struck reverse shot by Wicklow’s David Nuzum, the latter aiming the ball just inside the left post but the Enniscorthy captain produced a fearless dive to get a hand to the ball. Shortly after Wicklow found the back of the net, but it was disallowed as the shot came from outside the Enniscorthy circle. Enniscorthy tried hard to create goal-scoring opportunities but Wicklow's defence was strong and kept the attacks at bay.
With 15 minutes to go Wicklow were awarded a controversial penalty flick and Nuzum was summoned to take the penalty, his strike arcing high into the top left corner and out of the reach of the diving Graham Hill. Enniscorthy put everything into the remainder of the match but were unable to find an equaliser.
Enniscorthy now turn their attention back onto the league, with an encounter against St. Brendans Phoenix Park in their third match of division 5 taking place on Saturday at the Astro Active Centre.
Enniscorthy Squad: Graham Hill; Andrew Rothwell; Cathal Ó Suilleabháin; Clive Rothwell; Martyn Vietch; David Simmons; Keith Ogilvie; Glenn Chapman; Liam Jowett; Roy Chapman; Niall Maguire; Edmundas Liuikimas; Daithi Medcalf.
Wicklow started strongly, putting in the first attacking move of the game but through defender Andrew Rothwell Enniscorthy cleared the ball to safety. The visitors then counter-attacked; Clive Rothwell sending an aerial ball over the heads of the midfielders to find the his forwards and the away team got a shot away but the effort was saved by the Wicklow goalkeeper. The game settled down into a typical cup tie, with tension fizzling throughout. It was last year's division 6 runners-up, though, who struck first. Wicklow attacked down the left hand side; the ball was fed across the goalmouth to find centre forward James O’Sullivan- a man that many of the Enniscorthy players know well from their days of playing together with the now-defunct South East Wanderers.
It only took a minute for Enniscorthy to fight back and find the back of the net through an attack down the right. The Garden County men attempted to clear the ball from defence, but it found an Enniscorthy stick, which raised the ball off the ground enough for the oncoming Keith Ogilvie to meet the ball in mid air with a brilliantly struck goal. Wicklow in reply went on the attack straightaway but the County Wexford side's goalkeeper Graham Hill was more than up to the task and cleared the ball from a two on one attack on his goal. Wicklow lost their goal scorer in the late stages of the first half as O’Sullivan had to be helped off the pitch.
The Slaneysiders started the second period strongly with a number of attacks on the Wicklow goal but a second could not be found. Hill was called upon once again from a beautifully struck reverse shot by Wicklow’s David Nuzum, the latter aiming the ball just inside the left post but the Enniscorthy captain produced a fearless dive to get a hand to the ball. Shortly after Wicklow found the back of the net, but it was disallowed as the shot came from outside the Enniscorthy circle. Enniscorthy tried hard to create goal-scoring opportunities but Wicklow's defence was strong and kept the attacks at bay.
With 15 minutes to go Wicklow were awarded a controversial penalty flick and Nuzum was summoned to take the penalty, his strike arcing high into the top left corner and out of the reach of the diving Graham Hill. Enniscorthy put everything into the remainder of the match but were unable to find an equaliser.
Enniscorthy now turn their attention back onto the league, with an encounter against St. Brendans Phoenix Park in their third match of division 5 taking place on Saturday at the Astro Active Centre.
Enniscorthy Squad: Graham Hill; Andrew Rothwell; Cathal Ó Suilleabháin; Clive Rothwell; Martyn Vietch; David Simmons; Keith Ogilvie; Glenn Chapman; Liam Jowett; Roy Chapman; Niall Maguire; Edmundas Liuikimas; Daithi Medcalf.
