Thursday, February 18, 2010

McDonnell double returns Railway to top-rung

Women's Division One:
Old Alex 2 (Aoife Budd, Laura McCoy) Railway Union 5 (Jean McDonnell 2, Emer Dillon, Patricia O'Dwyer, Cecelia Joyce)
Railway returned to the top of division one as they won their game in hand over Hermes, scrapping to an untidy but ultimately fruitful victory over a dangerous opponent. Emer Dillon had the Sandymount club in front inside just 25 seconds, using her camogie skills to plant home an upright reverse from six yards but Old Alex were level six minutes later when Aoife Budd deflected high from a smart corner-move.

Patricia O'Dwyer and Jean McDonnell (pictured) were sharpest in the circle to build a 3-1 half-time lead. Budd and Kate McKenna drew excellent saves from Helen Stevenson and Pamela Smithwick respectively early in the second half. And Laura McCoy's simple slap from a corner switch deceived the visiting defence to hit the centre of the goal, much to the player's own bemusement, to give Alex a sniff of a point as the fixture continued in a slightly shapeless manner.

But when Becca Coll was sin-binned for not retreating at a five-metre free - a second such offence from the Alex defence - Railway took the initiative to close out the tie. Sinead Walsh's push skimmed the outside of the post before Cecelia Joyce made it 4-2, flicking the ball in via both posts. And McDonnell capped the three points in typically brilliant style, turning beautifully on the left touch-line, 25-metres out. Her pace then saw her speed away from any tackles and she hit crisply from the right of the circle into the bottom corner with a minute to go.

Glenanne 1 (Christine Barretto) Bray 1 (Wendy Adams)
It remains as you were at the bottom end of the division as Wendy Adams sweetly struck reverse-stick shot stole a point for Bray at Glenanne Park. The Wicklow side had enjoyed the best of the opening period to no avail before finding themselves under huge pressure in the second half, conceding to Christine Barretto's corner goal.

And the Glens looked more likely to extend their advantage until they were caught against the run of play. Adams' strike means it's now four points from two games for Bray and makes it very tight in the race to avoid tenth place with Pembroke now just a point off the bottom. Glenanne stay at just about arm's length but all three face tough tasks this weekend as the top five play the bottom five on Saturday.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Chrisso is the way to go!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

watching jeans second goal was worth standing out in the cold last night

Anonymous said...

agreed, not many around who could score a goal like that.

very impressive performance all round, real threat and set up a couple of excellent chances for others.

Anonymous said...

any player let run straight down a pitch should be able to score!!!! keeper kept the previous attempts out

Anonymous said...

1:52p.m.

What game where you at?

Ball was passed on the left and she moved to the right with it. I would not call that running straight down the pitch.

Anonymous said...

"any player let run straight down a pitch should be able to score" - just shows how much you know about hockey. McDonnells 2nd goal was class. She picked the ball up at left midfield cut a diagonal lie at pace. Alex tried to push her wide as she came to the top of the D but she showed great tecnique in striking the ball off the right foot without breaking stride..

you will go a long way to see a better goal..kind of like the kind of goal sherrif used to get..

match was recorded..would be great to see it up on the net

Stephen Findlater said...

By request, here's the fifth goal from last night in the Railway vs Old Alex game:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRWDwZeOuoU

By the way, if people ever want to send in any video clips from any game, I'll endeavour to get them up on the site.

Anonymous said...

nothing fantastic about that goal. pretty poor keeping and defending really. from that angle, the keeper should have it

Anonymous said...

Jean certainly took her goal well. But really the Alex defence should have done much better. It was 3 v 1and no one closed her down. If you look at, she's the only one running full pace. They seem to almost slow down and let her take the shot rather than keeping her under pressure.

Anonymous said...

4 defenders vs 2 (1 inactive) attackers. She cuts a line straight across the top of the circle from the left sideline.

If I was the Alex coach I'd be going nuts!

Anonymous said...

Note the skill - turning a defender from her first touch, running at pace with the ball, shooting in her stride off her right foot into the left hand corner of the goal. True class - and one of the best strikers in Ireland at the moment without a doubt!

Anonymous said...

It takes great skill to control the ball and turn a defender in one touch, run at pace with the ball to beat a number of defenders and then shoot off your right foot while in full stride into the bottom right hand corner of the goal. Jean is currently one of the best strikers in Ireland and one of the hardest workers on the pitch. Classic goal.