Ladies 2nds first half power play overhauls Pegasus

The 2nds faced Pegasus in the first round of the Electric Ireland Irish Junior Cup on Saturday. A home draw was a welcome bonus, and the girls made full use of the home advantage by netting 5 times to move on to round II. The usual vocal supporters on the balcony were treated to an action packed first half with all six goals in the game coming in the opening 35 minutes.

Susan Ryan continued her superb scoring run in dramatic fashion with a diving tip in for the opening goal. She began the move outside the circle, passing to Anna O’Neill who drove the baseline and lifted a pass in towards the goal for Susan to finish off.

Kats Duff was instrumental in the second goal, charging through from mid-field and finding Anna who cracked off a direct shot from the top for her first of three goals. She followed that up with a second shortly after, deflecting in a super shot from Orla Canavan (Stewart) after she dodged and weaved her way past numerous sticks to break through into the circle.

The fourth goal was a turnover ball in the Pembroke 25 which was played down the line and picked up by Anna (she was everywhere!). She passed into Holly who found herself in a 1v1 with the keeper. Holly tried to play a square pass to Shona who had charged through in some excellent support play but the keeper got a touch to it. Shona was relentless however and pounced on the loose ball to bang home goal number 4.

Anna closed out her busy first half with a hat-trick. Lizzie played a set piece long corner to perfection and passed the ball to Anna outside the circle who dribbled in close range to slip it past the keeper.

Pegasus continued to battle however, and intercepting a pass in the middle of the pitch just before half time won their first short corner of the game. A left switch strike was saved well initially by Lisa O’Rourke but the follow up was excellent and the normally solid defensive line was beaten.
The half time scoreline of 5-1 remained unchanged. Pegasus came out of the blocks in the second half and put more pressure on the Pembroke back line, but the defence held tough, and, along with the hard working mid-field managed to get back on top. Despite numerous chances Pembroke were unable to capitalise and the game ended at 5-1.

Pembroke move onto Round 2 with a trip up north to Ulster Elks on January 26th.

Special mention must go to the younger members of the team on the first Irish Junior Cup outing – it certainly didn’t faze Tara Junghenn, Laura Hanlon and Sarah McCready who all stepped up to the challenge.