Unlucky Mullingar fail to find equalising goal

Mullingar Hockey Club notes

After two back-to-back weeks of a cup match win and a league match win, Mullingar were hoping to keep their fire lit travelling to play Loreto this Saturday.

The first two quarters almost seemed as settling periods for the Mullingar side. The first quarter saw Loreto take advantage of the unsettled away side, producing a substantial lead within the first 15 minutes. An attack from Loreto down the right side of the pitch saw them enter Mullingar’s defending ‘D’. A strong shot from Loreto managed to find another Loreto stick inside the ‘D’, which raised the ball over Mullingar keeper, Aine Kane, and impressively into the top corner.

Despite this opening goal, Mullingar still seemed to have not fully switched on and their opponents took advantage. For the remainder of the quarter, Loreto tried numerous attacks with Mullingar managing to keep them out. However, a lack of focus for a split second from Mullingar allowed Loreto to get on the attack ahead of Mullingar’s defence. With Mullingar outnumbered in their defending ‘D’, Loreto played the ball around Mullingar and widened their lead to 2-0. The second quarter played out quite similar. Mullingar were starting to refocus, keeping Loreto’s attacks at bay, but their own attacking chances had not quite flourished.

The second half finally saw an improvement from the Mullingar side. The passion and urgency in their play finally began to emerge and the pressure was now increasing on Loreto. With some much more even play from both sides, Mullingar’s attacking chances began to strengthen and look much more promising. Mullingar’s defence and midfield lines began to gel better during defensive play, which made Loreto’s job much harder to get any goal chances. With the increased attacking pressure Mullingar were forcing Loreto under, it was only a matter of time before they reaped some sort of reward. Throughout the second quarter Mullingar won numerous short corners.

The first couple did not give any reward to Mullingar, but eventually their luck turned. Captain Ruby Murray pushed out to Louise Sharpe waiting at the top of the ‘D’. Sharpe then took a cracking strong shot. With Murray waiting near the post and gunning for a goal, Murray put her stick low and deflected the ball right between the posts. With Mullingar’s spirits now lifting, their urgency continued throughout the rest of this half. After narrowing the scoreline, Loreto in turn did not let up their own pressure on the away side. Mullingar worked relentlessly keeping Loreto’s scoreline at bay and in turn kept some impressive attacking pressure on Loreto, with a couple of very close goal chances that narrowly went the wrong way.

At the final whistle, Mullingar were unlucky to not have found their equalising goal with the match ending 2-1 to the home side.

Player of the Match: Adele Neale.

Mullingar next play Kilkenny at home in Wilson’s Hospital School on Saturday December 14 at 2pm.