Greenfields V Loreto
On a beautiful day in Loreto Beaufort, it was Greenfields who got off to the best start, albeit against the run of play. Some poor defending by the home side yielded a pc in the 9th minute with Greenfields Captain Neasa McGettigan's straight strike creeping too easily through the Loreto goal-line defence. While Loreto threatened with a lot of possession, they could not convert either their two clear-cut chances or their two penalty corner attempts.
The second quarter saw Loreto finally take some real control of the match only to throw it away with more poor defending. After 23 minutes, following a darting run by Carly Baker, Hayley Mulcahy slipped the ball homeward where Lauren O'Leary finished it off from no more than 6 inches out at the far post. Four minutes later Loreto finally took the lead when Hannah Matthews crashed home a strike from a penalty corner. Their good work was undone though when four minutes later Alex Hunt was picked out well wish a through pass following a defensive error and she made no mistake smashing home an unstoppable shot past goalkeeper Ruth Murphy.
Half Time: Loreto 2 Greenfields 2
After half time, Loreto finally shook themselves up and injected real pace into their movement and passing. Early on Sinead Collins made two fantastic saves from Nikki McConnell and Lizzie Colvin, playing in her first match of the season. Then in the 48th minute the move of the match ended with Captain Niamh Small setting up Carly Baker who finished with aplomb. Small put herself on the scoresheet three minutes later when she unleashed a rocket on her backhand which finished in the roof of the net.
Hannah Matthews then scored her second goal, and Loreto's fifth, early in the final quarter, when she reversed the ball past Collins at the third attempt. Greenfields, in fairness to them, rallied with a couple of corners but Loreto were in control as they saw out the game on the offensive. They will be both happy and relieved to have got off to a winning start in the IHL. They will be even happier that Lizzie Colvin played a large portion of the match with no ill effects after being out for over a year with injury. For their part Greenfields can be proud that they made Loreto work very hard for their win. Both teams want to thank the match officials for their fine contribution to the match: TO John Keogh, Judges Aoibheann McNicholas and Eimear Keane and Umpires Lyn Morrow and Paul Rainey.
Final Score: Loreto 5 Greenfields 2
