Ferris stars as Knocknacarra girls take the spoils

Knocknacarra 3 Salthill 0 

IN soaring temperatures and before a fine crowd, Knocknacarra won their 10th County U16 Community Games Hockey title on Sunday in Dangan with a comphrensive win over last year’s champions and local rivals Salthill.

Knocknacarra took the game to Salthill right from the start and were dominant for most of the first half with midfielders Maeve Russell, Ciara Power and Alice Meagher dominating possession, leaving the forwards with plenty of opportunities to open the scoring.

However Salthill’s defence, in particular Aisling Dunne, Catherine Gavin and Claire Thornton were in terrific form and it took until close to half time before Knocknacarra broke the deadlock with Clare Lally scoring from close range.

The second half started very differently with Salthill applying strong pressure throughout the first ten minutes and it took some strong defending by Knocknacarra’s Clare Watson, Hannah Gormley, Emer Divilly, and Clodagh Kennedy, well supported by keeper Vicky Hynes, to keep them out.

Knocknacarra, however, weathered the storm and for the latter part of the game again dominated possession in no small part due to the magnificent performance of Angela Ferris who certainly gave a ‘player of the match’ performance on the day.

For more, read this week's Galway City Tribune.