On Saturday the ladies faced local rivals Omagh in ONE 1918 Ulster Womans Hockey Senior 1 League. The Cookstown ladies were caught napping early on going a goal down as Omagh started brightly.
The Cookstown team soon found their rhythm and quickly began creating chances. Cookstown dominated the game with great attacking play up the right hand side of the pitch. Melanie Devlin worked her socks off playing balls up the line as well as driving into space herself and crossing the ball into the circle only to see the forwards narrowly miss deflecting the ball goal wards.
Ruth Brown, in the centre of the park, had an enormous task on her hands. She was faced with marking Irish international Shirley McCay who recently came home from playing in the Belgium Hockey League. Ruth was every bit as good and controlled the Cookstown play with one of her best performances of the season. Cookstown confidently worked the ball out of defence and into midfield with notable performances from Rebecca Nelson and Gail Brown who was more than unfortunate to give away a corner from a strong tackle outside the circle late in the first half.
The Cookstown equaliser came early in the second half following good skills from Paula Black who took the ball past McCay and into the circle with Nelson slotting the ball home with a great reverse shot.
There were chances missed from both sides and plenty of unconverted corners from the Cookstown team. Laura Burton remained calm in nets throughout the match keeping the defenders in front of her on their toes. However, late in the second half Omagh scored on the counterattack when Cookstown were caught pressing high up the pitch. They passed the ball quickly to their nippy forwards who made no mistake slotting the ball home for the winning goal.
All credit must go though to the Cookstown girls who worked hard right to the final whistle and will feel hard done by after a good performance ending their unbeaten run in the league.
The ladies would like to take this opportunity to send their condolences to Les Allen and his family after a recent family bereavement.
Team: L.Burton, G. Brown, M. Devlin, R. Campbell, R. Sloan, E. Dunlop, R. Brown, M. Sloan, R. Nelson, L. Johnston, P. Black, J. McLean, L. McCracken.
| Team | P | W | D | L | GD | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lisnagarvey | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | +34 | 22 |
| Banbridge | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | +20 | 13 |
| NICS | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | +1 | 13 |
| Annadale | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | +10 | 12 |
| Instonians | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | +3 | 10 |
| Mossley | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | -15 | 9 |
| Kilkeel | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | -8 | 8 |
| Cookstown | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | +16 | 6 |
| B. Harlequins | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | -32 | 3 |
| North Down | 9 | 0 | 2 | 7 | -29 | 2 |
| Team | P | W | D | L | GD | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Victorians | 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | +18 | 22 |
| North Down | 9 | 5 | 3 | 1 | +18 | 18 |
| NICS | 10 | 5 | 1 | 4 | +6 | 16 |
| Portadown | 9 | 4 | 3 | 2 | +5 | 15 |
| Greenisland | 9 | 3 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 13 |
| Ballymena | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | -2 | 11 |
| Cookstown | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | -5 | 11 |
| Priorians | 8 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -10 | 6 |
| Knock | 8 | 1 | 2 | 5 | -10 | 5 |
| Omagh | 8 | 1 | 1 | 6 | -12 | 4 |