Castlederg High 0 Dromore High 3

Castlederg High School’s Under 18 girl’s hockey team recently travelled to Stormont Playing Fields to compete in the Under 18’s High School’s Cup Final against a strong Dromore High School side.

This was a wonderful achievement for the ‘Derg girls – some of whom had played in the Cup final at Under14 and Under 16 level.

The Girls started off nervously in the first quarter, but held their own throughout with Charley Love, Ebony Wauchope, Jenna Young and Jenna Forsythe working hard in defence to keep Dromore from scoring.

However they were unfortunate in last minute of the first quarter with Dromore finding the back of the net taking the game to 1-0.

The Castlederg girls, though, did not let the score line dampen their spirits and came out fighting in the second and third quarter with everyone working hard to get the ball up the pitch and creating chances within the semi-circle.

The Derg girls were very unfortunate on a few occasions not to find the back of the net with Katie Young, Anna Keatley and Natalie Watson working as a great trio up front with halves, Alana Hunter, Amy Vennard and Zara Johnston creating lots of support for them.

In the final quarter, Dromore had numerous penalty corners to which the Derg side worked superbly to defend. The goalkeeper, Chelsea Scott, remaining composed making some outstanding saves.

However, Dromore found the back of the net on one occasion taking the game to 2-0.

Shortly after this the Derg left back Jenna Young also made a spectacular save right on the goal line - even the Ulster Umpire was impressed!

The team continued to keep their heads held high until the final whistle, but unfortunately Dromore found the back of the net once again, taking the final score to 3-0.

Mrs Lilly, who is the team coach, said she was extremely proud of all the girls for getting to the final once again.

She said it was a massive achievement and they have made the entire school community very proud. And to top it off most of these girls will be available to play in this same cup again next year.