Ladies fall to Dungannon in Senior Cup

North Down ladies met Dungannon at Comber last Saturday for the third time this season, this time in the quarter finals of the Senior Cup.

North Down anticipated a fast paced game and worked hard in the first quarter to keep the score at 0-0 despite good passes and breaks from the opposition.

The second quarter started with North Down picking up the attack and making more breaks with forwards Emily Johnston and Jenna Pliauga making a threatening duo.  Dungannon however won a penalty corner on their next attack and, despite an excellent save from keeper Kathryn McGregor, they managed an unstoppable rebound from the penalty spot that hit the cross bar before slotting into the back of the net making the score 1-0 at half time.

The fourth quarter followed with both teams strongly contesting the game and solid defence from Bethan Crawford and Ali Campbell prevented many attacks from Dungannon being converted. The midfield of Rachael Murphy, Kirsty Boobyer and Rachel Andrews continued to create chances for North Down to increase their attacking momentum but Dungannon managed to slip another goal before the quarter ended.

With the final quarter starting at 2-0, North Down knew they would have to lift the tempo if they wanted to progress to the semis. This resulted in Rachael Muphy playing an excellent cross through to Ali Campbell in middle of the pitch who slotted it to Emily Johnston in the circle on the left who shot past the keeper for an excellent goal bringing the score at 2-1. With only a short amount of time left North Down knew it was all or nothing and pulled off defenders for attackers gambling for another goal. Unfortunately this was not to pay off with Dungannon making use of the decreased defence to score two more goals in the final minutes to put the final score at 4-1.

Burch Autos Player of the Match was Rachael Murphy.