Greenisland Ladies Hockey Club

First Games of the Season for Greenisland Ladies

With pre-season well underway, a squad from Greenisland Ladies took part in the Ballyclare 6-a-side tournament on Saturday 7 August. These games gave the Greenisland girls a chance to put what they had learned in training into practice.

The team participated in the Junior section of the tournament and the first game was against Ballymoney and the Club got off to a good start with a 1-0 win the goal coming from one of last year’s U14s – Rachel Scott. Lindsay Turner was very unlucky not to bag a second goal. Ballymoney were not best pleased and attacked again and again, however, an on-form Alice Kennedy kept a clean sheet.

Next up was a keenly contested game against PSNI with both sides vying for control of the game. The PSNI keeper kept attacks from Hannah Loughridge and Lynsey Boyd at bay. Just when it seemed the game would end in a scoreless draw, and only two minutes from the end PSNI sneaked a goal to give them a 1-0 win. This was despite the sterling defensive work of Megan McMurtry, Alice Kennedy and Stefanie Butler, PSNI sneaked a goal to give them a 1-0 win.

Not deterred, the Greenisland team rallied and went on to win their next two games. A 1-0 win against Ballyclare and a 2-1 win against Ballynure. Tinita Nolan scored in the Ballynure game but it was Lauren Kirker who took the goals leaderboard that day with a goal in each game.

The final of the day was held between Ballymoney and PSNI with Greenisland umpire, David King, officiating. It was the ‘Money side who ran out 1-0 victors. Greenisland finished a close 3rd and took consolation from the fact that they had beaten the Ballymoney side earlier in the day. It turned out that it came down to goal difference when determining the finals draw and the Greenisland team just hadn’t scored enough goals.

The team thanked Karen Elwood for her words of wisdom and encouragement throughout the afternoon. Many thanks to David King for umpiring.

Squad: Lynsey Boyd, Stefanie Butler, Alice Kennedy, Lauren Kirker, Megan McMurtry, Hannah Loughridge, Tinita Nolan, Rachel Scott and Lindsay Turner.