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On a bus trip to Enniskillen, greenislandladies.co.uk caught up with Greenisland's oldest top level playing member of the club, Norma Montgomery. Norma when she turns 40 in September 2006, will be going into her 15th season with the club and is still turning out each week for the 1st XI. In fact a whole new generation of Montgomerys are featuring for Greenisland these days with daughters Heather (16) and Joy (14) also members of the club. Norma is pictured below, front row 2nd from left, in her school days.
Aged 12 Norma joined future Greenisland team mates Jenny Barber and Alyson Douglas at Cloughfern Ladies where she spent 2 seasons before moving to Carrick Ladies in 1980. There she was playing Senior League hockey at the age of 15, however was scarred by a heavy 15-1 defeat to Portadown along the way. After taking enforced time outs to have children Norma was persuaded by Jenny Barber to come back to hockey and this time she joined Greenisland Ladies.
Norma's first match was in the pre season tournament at Grosvenor in September 1991, a tournament which Greenisland won when Diane McClure slotted home the winning flick after the final ended in a draw. Life at Greenisland began in Intermediate 4 for Norma as the 1sts established themselves in the woman's league structure. Nine promotions in 11 years took the club to Senior League hockey for the first time in their history in 2002. Norma then spent a couple of years playing for the 2nd XI and, in her late thirties she thought her 1st XI days were over. However that was not the case and in 2004 she returned to the Greenisland 1sts squad and has not looked back since!
Norma says she has seen a lot of change and improvement in the club over the past 15 years. "When I joined there were only 3 teams, there are now 5 teams, a veterans side and an excellent junior set up. The development of the club has been massive, for example the 3rds who were in Minor League are now playing in Intermediate 4." She added that the skill of the younger players in the club now is very encouraging, in the past the top teams were made up of older, more experienced players whereas now there is a healthy blend of young and old. When playing for the 1sts throughout the nineties Norma was the young upstart! (This may be difficult to imagine for some of our younger members - i.e. anyone under the age of 30!)
Against Lurgan in the early 90s, during a tense league title decider match Greenisland were awarded a penalty flick. Karen Elwood stepped up and duly put it away resulting in a mass pile up of Greenisland players jumping on top of her in the middle of the pitch!
The infamous Irish Junior Cup match against 3 Rock Rovers - it was the first ever entry in the cup for Greenisland and 3 Rock Rovers were highly impressed with their efforts, as they narrowly defeated their visitors 1-0 in a game where Clare Morrow was outstanding in goals. However the most memorable parts of the day were "Dawn and the Escalator" and "Man in Wheelchair"!
The red mist at Raphoe when the gentle, quiet and reserved Karen Elwood did her 'Benny Hill' moment resulting in a 5 match ban. Norma scored a hat trick and a red card in the return match at home. Enough said.
The formation of GLHC Junior Club 3 years ago - "the improvement is great and has produced super players throughout the club already, including members of the 1st XI squad."
Play off decider against Queens at Deramore in the 2001/2002 season, with the winner gaining promotion to Senior Two. Norma who was captaining Greenisland scored the only goal of the game in the first half and Greenisland hung on for what seemed the longest second half of a hockey match they had ever played. Norma describes herself as being "overcome with emotion at taking Greenisland Ladies into Senior League."
Norma describes GLHC as "One of the best experiences and not just for the hockey. I am delighted to have met people such as Karen Elwood who has become one of my closest friends. Also playing with girls such as Jenny Barber, Jackie Nelson, Jenny Mayne, Erica McMullan, Sheelagh Johnston, Ali Burnett, Gayle Taylor, Leigh Carlin, Clare Winning and any others who I have left out, has been a pleasure."
Having served on the committee for many years Norma fondly remembers working with some of the most dedicated people and as with everything, time changes things, and Norma would now like to see young blood taking on these roles and leave the more senior members to concentrate on tying their shoe laces and holding their sticks!
"To consolidate the 1sts ambitions for Senior League hockey over the next 3-4 years, by gradually introducing the youth to the top level, allowing the older members of the club to strengthen and bring experience to the other teams and help them develop."
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| 05-Sep-2008 19:50 | |||||||||||||