Garvey girls begin title defence in style

Lisnagarvey Ladies Seconds began the defence of their Junior 1 title against one of their main rivals from last year, Lurgan Seconds.

Despite having a much changed team from last year the Garvey girls dominated most of the match.

Their first goal came from an excellent spell of play in which Rachael Colgan played the ball from the right to Tamilla Matchett at left midfield. Tamilla found Steff McCullogh who played it across the keeper to Jenna Flynn who calmly stroked the ball into the net.

The rest of the first half was goalless although both sides defended well and the Garvey central defence of Lynn Kerr, Sara Hanna and especially goal keeper Leah Young are to be praised whilst Sophie Glass soaked up a lot at centre midfield.

Early in the second half Garvey were awarded a penalty corner. Tanya Surgeon crashed the ball past the right foot of the Lurgan keeper for a two nil lead.

The fitness of the Garvey squad began to tell and Lurgan were forced to defend much of the remainder of the game. The final Garvey goal came from some slick passing. Emma McClurkin moved the ball left to right where Gemma Walker provided another useful ball into the Lurgan circle. A fumbled attempted clearance saw the ball lifted but Steff McCullugh showd great improvisation to smash the ball into the goal.

Squad appearances by talented young players Sophie Reid and Rebecca Mills and great versatility by new girl Katherine Graham contributed towards a very satisfactory and encouraging start to the season.