HOCKEY - Navan ladies edged out

The trials and tribulations of a unplayable pitch was a problem for Navan on Sunday when the club’s Leinster Ladies League game against Our Lady’s was a casualty of the weather.

However, Saturday’s home game against top of the table Wicklow was played with the women from the Garden County proving too strong for the hosts and won by 3-1.

Against Wicklow it was a busy first-half with the Navan side seeing numerous attempts on goal and unfortunately having a goal disallowed.

The Wicklow side were very much rattled by the force of the Navan display and the hosts came close to converting following a scramble in front of the goals.

The referee nearest the play allowed advantage after the ball hit a Wicklow foot in the D. Mags Kilcooley stepped in and hammered the ball home.

There was some confusion subsequently with Wicklow contesting that the other referee had blown her whistle.

The referees conferred and the goal was disallowed with a short corner was awarded instead. Unfortunately Kilcooley struck just wide.

Aoife Heaney and Kathlyn Newman faced more pressure from the Wicklow side in the second-half. They worked tirelessly to deter the Wicklow attacks and with the help of Amy Reid and Clodagh Lyons in the midfield they were able to clear the ball out to switch the momentum in Navan’s favour.

Navan were unlucky not to be awarded a penalty flick in the early stages of the second-half when O’Gorman went down in the D after a bad tackle from two Wicklow defenders.

It seemed nothing was to go the Navan’s way and Wicklow broke the deadlock when they converted from a short corner.

Eirin Dames did well to block the first shot, but Wicklow were ready on the rebound and made no mistake.

Navan rallied again and pushed forward with Lyons and Sinead Dixon working well on the wings to push forward for an equaliser.

When the ball fell to Amy Reid after the Wicklow goalie made a save she was clinical in her finish to slot the ball into the left corner to bag her first goal of the season.

Unfortunately, the Navan side lost their momentum and Wicklow were fairly quick to take advantage as they struck twice more and came through for victory with a flattering 3-1 scoreline