Veronica's on the ball for Dromore Ladies

ON Saturday Dromore Ladies Firsts welcomed Raphoe Ladies at home.

Dromore weathered a period of early pressure from the away side, causing panic in the defence with keeper Claire Lowry having to make three great saves to prevent Raphoe taking the lead.

After a period of danger Dromore reacted quickly and composed themselves. Good quality play came between forwards Rachel Morrow, Veronica Cummings and Lauren Pedlow who were dangerous on the break with their pace being difficult to handle by the visitors' defence.

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Dromore then managed to win two short corners in quick succession but unfortunately were able to convert these into goals. During this time of excellent play from Dromore the umpire made a correct decision and Dromore was rewarded with a penalty stroke. Tara Malcomson confidently stood up for the team and with some fine skill displayed a terrific stroke, outrushing the keeper and putting the ball in the corner of the net.

With Dromore now leading by one goal they felt the pressure was off but some solid defending from Jo Leathem, Claire Morton and Louise McCracken held the scoreline to half time.

At the beginning of the second half Dromore displayed some super hockey with a combination of passes between midfielders Steffi Barron and Laura Gamble. Laura then saw her strike to the back post deftly deflected in by a waiting Veronica Cummins bringing the score line 2-1 to the home side.

The second part of the second half seemed to have fallen a few levels as it was played out in a very scrappy manner by both teams.

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Raphoe, feeling they were back in the game, continued with some determined attacks towards goal and finally managed to put the ball in the back of the net.

However the attacking intent was shown by the home team once again. Dromore were eager to look for another goal as they continued to create space in attack winning several well worked short corners however all attempts were shut down by the strong Raphoe defence.

Dromore continually counter attacked and turned over possession in the closing minutes of the game to leave the remainder of the game a hard fought victory. Dromore finish with a win of 2-1, marginally deserving of the points.

- Dromore Fourths played Holywood at home and from the whistle Dromore showed good communication and team work.

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During the first half the midfielders - Emma Nelson, Linda Cummings and Erin Leeper - worked well to get the ball up into Holywood's circle where the forwards of Lynne Nesbitt, Sadie Henry and Emma Johnston won many penalty corners but were not able to secure a goal.

From the second half Holywood seemed to wake up and were putting pressure of the Dromore defence but good defending from Andrea Wilson, Amber Mulholland, Aimee Thompson and Alix Magowan meant that Holywood couldn't get a goal.

Dromore had a few more chances in the circle but were still unfortunate not to get the goal they needed. The final whistle blew and the scored remained 0-0.

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