Ladies 5s Triumph 3–0 Over Saintfield

1st quarter – match started evenly for both teams, there were plenty of chances at both ends. North down goalkeeper, Helena Press, made great saves and frustrated the Saintfield team as they couldn’t squeeze the ball passed her. There were many energetic runs from the 3 North Down forwards Lucy Dean, Katie Johnston and Ella Garret but they just couldn’t quite open the scoreboard within the first 15 mins. 

In the second quarter, North Down started really strong , and with their speedy play scored a goal within one minute of the starting whistle. A perfect ball from Poppy Watson in defence was fed up the line to Katie Johnston who ran like Usain Bolt into the circle taking a great shot on goal, but was denied her name in lights as the keeper made a terrific save. It didn’t end there, as Lucy Dean perfectly picked up the rebound pushing the ball over the line from a really tight angle to give North Down their first goal of the match. Saintfield responded immediately driving the play into North Down’s defensive half. However the back four Maxine Taylor, Rebecca Murdock, Ann McBride and Poppy Watson formed an impenetrable line clearing away any danger and ninja sharp reactions from keeper Helena Press made sure that any loose balls were dealt with. 

In the third quarter, Ella Garrett’s crucial work in attack relentlessly tackling the opposition, winning the ball and making beautiful passes to her team, played an important part in helping North Down press for more goals. Left mid, Erin Gamble, was continually in search for scoring opportunities throughout the match making countless tackles and intercepting Saintfield’s passes. Absolutely delighted to see her determination was soon rewarded as Erin scored North Down’s second goal before the end of quarter 3. 

4th quarter- both teams continued to fight hard. Maxine Taylor continued to feed balls around the back spreading play to avoid Saintfield’s heavy press. Rebecca Murdock and Ann McBride were always on patrol in defence intercepting and breaking down Saintfield’s attack, tackling strong and coming out with the ball. Keeper Helena Press was certainly not shy is coming out in full force to meet any home team attack which slipped through the line for defence. Kathryn Cochrane, showed great composure in right back making concise passes down the line to midfielder Trudy Kidd. Trudy held strong and never gave up earning multiple free hits and consistently linking up with her teammates to maintain North Down’s structure and positional control. 

Spectators watched on as the beautiful end to end performances by both teams was on show but it was from a quick free by Emma Johnston which sealed the game for North Down. 

This quick free was passed to Katie Johnston’s stick who had been so hungry to score for the entire match. Katie’s burst of energy soon found herself in a nail biting situation one on one with the Saintfield goalkeeper again, but this time Katie made a well executed strike on goal and soon heard the cheers of her team and spectators around her. Katie’s top performance for the full 60 minutes earned her very deservingly player of the match. 

Final score 3-0

It was an amazing team performance from every single player on the pitch, the teamwork and support for each other was outstanding. All very red faces at the end. 

Thank you to Beverly Britain for umpiring.