Greenfields 1sts faced a tough challenge away to Yeats Hockey Club last Sunday. From the first whistle Greenfields were on the attack and had a good number of chances in the first twenty minutes. Mary Healy, Neasa McGettigan and Sorcha Minihan tested the Yeats keeper who made several fine saves to keep the home side in the contest.
Greenfields were on top in midfield with Rachel Wyer, Elaine Hall and Liz Tighe enjoying the lion’s share of possession and found it easy to find the forwards who were creating space for themselves by their lines of running. But Yeats were always dangerous on the break and Siobhan Divilly, Catherine Moore and Ciara Connanon had to be alert at times to deny Eva Martin and Rachel Bourne from converting.
In the 25th minute the Greenfields pressure nearly lead to the first goal of the game when a fine move by Hall found McGettigan who rounded two players and found Healy, whose shot was saved by the Yeats keeper. When Healy tried to steer the rebound into the goal the Keeper fouled the ball, giving the umpire no option but to award a penalty stroke. McGettigan’s stroke was superbly saved by Jean McConnell in the Yeats goal. Greenfields were beginning to wonder if it was going to be their day and moments later Yeats were awarded a penalty corner after good work from Eva Martin and Rachel Bourne only to see their effort saved off the line by Sarah McDonald. This was the wakeup call Greenfields needed and the whole team upped the work rate and intensity for the remaining eight minutes of the first half.
Finally the deadlock was broken shortly before half time, good play from Grealy, Hall, Minihan and McGettigan lead to a short corner for Greenfields which McGettigan duly converted to finally break the deadlock. Greenfields went in search of number two and this came just before half time when Healy and McGettigan forced the Yeats defence into a turnover inside the twenty five. Healy found McGettigan with an inch perfect pass, she in turn found Minihan on the edge of the circle and she turned to fire a reverse stick shot low into the far corner giving the Yeats keeper no chance. The half time whistled sounded shortly after that with the score remaining at 2-0.
In the second half Greenfields took complete control of the game as they became more accustomed tot he surface and created chance after chance only to be denied by stout defending from Emer Concannon, Cara Osbourne, Deirdre Heaslip and McConnell in goal. But Greenfields added three more goals, two from Healy, the first being set up superbly by McGettigan and the second from a quick turn and snap shot from the right edge of the circle. The final goal came from good work from Rachel Wyer, who was fouled in the circle and the resultant short corner was deflected high into the roof of the net by Sarah McDonald to complete the scoring.
Final result on a wet and miserable day in Sligo, Greenfields 5 – 0 Yeats County.
