Greenfields Hockey Club produced their best performance of the season to advance to the next round of the Irish Cup when overcoming Our Lady’s Terenure by 1 - 0 in Dublin on Saturday.
Our Lady’s, which caters for past pupils of Our Lady’s School, lined out with several members of their successful Leinster schools team of 2005, but Greenfields back four of Clodagh Greally, Clodagh Kennedy, Alison Ryan and evergreen captain for the day Catherine Moore, never put a foot wrong.
Although their victory margin was just a single goal, Greenfields were always in control. They maintained their composure despite being foiled on several occasions throughout the first half by a series of top-drawer saves by Our Lady’s goalkeeper Laura Strokes from shots by Mary Healy, Alice Meagher and Trish Garrett.
Our Lady’s best move of the game came just after the half-time break. Aisling Boyle took a quick free at midfield and passed to Emma Wallace whose shot was cleared off the line by Alison Ryan.
However Greenfields dominated the game from then on and took the lead eight minutes after the break. A good clearance by Clodagh Greally found Rachel Wyre on the right side of midfield, and she passed to Mary Healy who gave a quick flick to the player of the match Trish Garrett on the left. Dribbling into the circle and taking on two defenders, Garrett finished with a superb shot into the left hand corner. And she might have doubled the lead in the 15th minute when her shot brought off another good save from Laura Strokes.
Galway advance
Galway Ladies secured a 3-2 win over Ulster’s Cookestown to advance to the next round of the Irish Hockey Trophy.
Cookstown, as expected, started strongly and scored early as Galway took some time to get into the game following their long journey north. However, Emma Johnson's goal before half time levelled matters, and the visitors went on to dominate much of the second half.
Johnson grabbed a second for Galway and, whenTara Melvin scored a third, the game looked over. However with 10 minutes remaining, Cookstown scored a second goal which set up a final nailbiting 10 minutes.
