Botanic 0
Enniscorthy 1

Enniscorthy’s L2 travelled to Dublin’s northside on Saturday to play Botanic 4th and brought their winless streak to an end with a dogged away performance.

On a windy cold day the Enniscothy ladies went out with fire in their belly. They were all go from the get-go. It was six minutes into the first quarter when Enniscorthy won a penalty corner. Lisa Frayne deflected the ball and Kelly Robinson shot and scored. Botanic tried to come back and had shot at goal but Ellen Creed made a brilliant save. Botanic got the chance of two penalty corners but couldn’t succeed to get through the Enniscorthy defensive line. To finish off the first quarter Laura Sutton got a breakthrough, passing it to Martha Dunne with the latter getting a shot on goal away but the host’s defence were able to deflect it wide.

The second quarter of the match began with the Dublin outfit tried to get a shot on goal against Enniscorthy but Creed made a series of powerful saves. Counter-attacking, the visitors sent the ball up the wing, for Dervla Walsh to make a circle entry. The Enniscorthy ladies held the press well, during Botanic’s hit outs. Hannah Neville made a circle entry, passing it to Kelly with a shot on goal but went wide.

The third quarter began with Enniscorthy still holding on to their slender lead. Botanic came back again with two penalty corners in the space of a few minutes but with Creed in goal and the defensive line fully focused, Botanic couldn’t score. Enniscorthy had the chance to create some breathing space when awarded a penalty flick, but the Botanic goalkeeper made a good save from Robinson’s effort.

Enniscorthy kept the last quarter together by defending really well and passing the ball up the wings. There were great breaks and circle entries but Enniscorthy just couldn’t get another score. Enniscorthy ended the game with a 1-0 win and a clean sheet for Ellen Creed.

The team will travel to Bray next Saturday to play the first round of the cup, hoping for a repeat performance.

Squad: Amy D’Alton, Laura Redmond, Megan Dempsey, Hannah Neville, Laura Sutton, Amy Murphy, Martha Dunne, Alice Kelly, Lisa Frayne, Kelly Robinson, Eleanor Bolger, Dervla Walsh, Alibhe Harrigton, Aine O’brien, Saoirse Power.