Early surge secures another win

Lurgan started like a house on fire in this Premier League encounter at the Royal school Dungannon on Saturday.

On their very first serious attack in the 2nd minute they won a penalty corner which they duly converted when Sarah McClure fired the ball home to put them ahead.

Lurgan kept the pressure up and five minutes later Lurgan won another penalty corner courtesy of determined play by Jo-Anne Wilson. Dungannon must have feared the worst when Charlene Hull drove a fine shot into the corner of the net to put the visitors two up.

A jittery Dungannon defence managed to prevent any addition to the score line as Lurgan won two more penalty corners in the next ten minutes.

For the next 15 minutes Lurgan huffed and puffed without really finding a killing strike for all their endeavours. For all their incursions into the Dungannon circle they had little to show for them and it wasn’t until the 32nd minute that they won their next penalty corner.

Lurgan have been working hard trying to vary their penalty corner routines and this time the variation resulted in a strike for Kathryn Edgar whose shot was well saved by the keeper. Kathryn was the first to react to the rebound and she managed to get off another shot which went just wide of the post.

Lurgan continued applying the pressure in the second half and they got their reward after just five minutes. Zoe Hawthorne was the creator as she dribbled along the Dungannon by-line and then pulled back a beautiful ball in front of goal for Kathryn Edgar to get the last touch on an Emily McStea shot to put Lurgan 3-0 up. It was almost Deja-vu two minutes later when Zoe Hawthorne teed up with Kathryn again after a great run and pass but this time the shot went just wide of the posts. Lurgan squandered another penalty corner two minutes later as the routine broke down before they could even get a shot on goal. In a rare attack into the Lurgan circle Dungannon won their only penalty corner of the match in the 48th minute. They certainly made the most of it as they were then awarded a stroke as their initial shot hit a Lurgan body on the line. A good strike cracked against the back board as the Dungannon forward gave keeper Suzie Taylor no chance.

This goal gave the home side a boost and they almost added a second from a quick counter attack after Lurgan lost possession but Suzie Taylor pulled off a fine diving save to preserve her sides two goal advantage.

Lurgan re-grouped and re-asserted their strangle hold on the match. But for all their possession they were guilty of some wasteful finishing and squandered chances to win by an extravagant margin.

Dungannon must have been relieved as Lurgan had put six past them in a previous shield encounter. Two more penalty corner awards for Lurgan in the final minutes resulted in no further addition to the score. Although Lurgan will be disappointed in some aspects of their play, they will however be delighted to have secured their fifth win on the trot and their second in the league which keeps them joint top.