Gutsy Performance by CHC Ladies 1s in Irish Senior Cup Semi-Final

Corinthians Ladies 1s put on a gritty performance in their 3-0 defeat to current EY Champions, Pegasus on Saturday 19th October in Whitechurch Park.
Pegasus started the 1st quarter strongly and went a goal up after only 3 minutes.  This seemed to galvanise CHC into action.   A period of stout defence which included Jessica McGrane making a goal-line save from a penalty corner and Emily McKay making an important tackle in the D was coupled with some good attacking play by Sarah Quill, Laura Motyer and Ciara Vincent. 
The 2nd quarter was very equal with penalty corners at either end being saved by both keepers.  A slender Pegasus lead of 1-0 at half-time meant that CHC were still very much in the hunt with all to play for in the 2nd half.
Early Pegasus pressure in the 3rd quarter led to yet another penalty corner which was blocked by Leanne Kelly and from which Corinthians counter-attacked at pace but unfortunately did not score.  Pegasus then piled on the pressure.  A number of penalty corners for the visitors resulted in a goal in the 43rd minute from a clever switch routine.
The pressure continued but the CHC defence remained strong with their goalkeeper Holly Micklem making some fine saves leaving the score 2-0 at the end of Q3.
The final quarter was dominated by yet more penalty corners to the visitors, most of which were well cleared by the CHC defence but unfortunately in the 68th minute Pegasus scored the third and final goal.
Even though the Ladies 1s lost the match it was a significant improvement on their last meeting with Pegasus 2 years ago when they were knocked out in the first round of this competition in Belfast.
Next week sees the return of the EYHL2 with the ladies travelling to Galway to play NUIG on Saturday afternoon.