I took a break from the All Ireland Irish Schoolboys Championship to scoot over to College Hill, Armagh for the Junior Cup match between The Royal School and Antrim Grammar on Thursday afternoon.
As one of our featured schools I’ve been enjoying the progress of this group of young players this season and they produced another strong performance against a very resilient Antrim side led by their keeper, Daisy Shirlow, who had an outstanding game.
The first quarter was fairly even with neither side able to build on a few bustling runs through the midfield. Armagh were awarded a late penalty corner but Antrim dealt with it without issue and the teams went into the second quarter with the score at 0 – 0.
The second quarter continued in a similar vein though as the quarter progressed it got noticeably busier around the Antrim D. The quick reactions and well timed interventions by Shirlow looked to have thwarted the home team but in the last minute a well placed pass from Kate Livingston was driven in by Sophia Simmonds to give Armagh a 1 – 0 lead at the stroke of half time.
The third quarter was also well contested but the Antrim defence was under increasing pressure as Livingston became more influential with some driving runs. Again it took the full quarter for Armagh to get past the resolute Antrim defence but they eventually succumbed in the last play as Livingston converted an end of quarter penalty corner to give Armagh a 2 – 0 lead.
Antrim had to push out in the final quarter but it just left space at the back for Armagh to exploit. The impressive Livingston added her second at the start of the quarter and the neat Cadence Gillespie got the final touch, on a late effort, to give Armagh a 4 – 0 win in an entertaining game.
Match Gallery
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