Round up of the latest action

With both the Men’s and Ladies 1st XI teams unbeaten throughout the month of November, the Club’s top teams were keen to maintain this record into December and both did not disappoint last Saturday.

The Men’s 1st XI travelled to Deramore Park to take on Belfast Harlequins who are currently struggling in the league.  Despite a slow start, the Bann boys soon settled into the game and Colin and Stephen Dowds both scored before half time.  Bann dominated the second half and added to their earlier lead to take the goal tally to five by the final whistle with Dane Ward, Scott Caruth and Stevie Dowds hitting the back board.  This extended the 1sts unbeaten run in the league to 6 games and with one game remaining until the Christmas break, Banbridge Men’s 1st  XI sit on top of the Premier league.

 

The Ladies 1st XI played their game away to Dungannon, a team they have often struggled with in the past.  This time however, Banbridge always looked the better side and Rachel Cairns put the first goal away for Bann and this was soon followed by another from Alannah Magee.  The second half saw Bann dominating the play and Megan Whan sealed the victory scoring the third goal.

 

The Men’s and Ladies 2nd XI were both in cup action at Havelock.  The Ladies 2s were extremely unlucky and despite leading the game 2-0 with goals from Amy Gray and Nadene Black, allowed Limavady 1sts to come back into the game to level and take the match to extra time.  Limavady got the winner in the second period of extra time to put Bann Ladies 2s out of the Intermediate Cup.  However, this was a good performance considering Limavady play in Senior League 3 compared to Bann in Junior 3.

The Men’s 2s had more success when they entertained Kilkeel in the first round of the Irish Junior Cup.  A hard fought first half saw Bann with some chances but it wasn’t until late into the half that Bann scored through Dermy Reay which was soon followed up with a second when Captain Dougie Anderson fired in from a short corner. Kilkeel fought back in the second half and scored and early goal.  However, Bann managed to take control again through David McAnulty and this was enough to take the locals through to the second round to be played against Fingal on 26 January.

The Men’s 3s had no game due to the 2s playing in the IJC however the ladies 3s kept up their strong league performance with a good win at Havelock.  The Ladies 3rd XI beat Grosvenor 4s 4-1 with two goals from Madeline, and one a piece from Hannah Hopkins and Chelsea Black.

Both the Men’s and Ladies 4ths were unlucky to lose against North Down 3rds and South Antrim respectively.  The Men’s 4s went down by two goals and while they fought back to level the scores through Gary Dean and Gareth Matthews, North Down went on to win 3-2.  The Ladies 4s took an early lead against the South Antrim side through a Julie Pollock penalty corner but were unlucky to lose the game 2-1 against a determined South Antrim side.

Fixtures for this weekend (8th December) are as follows:

Men
1s v Antrim @ Havelock @ 2.30pm
2s v Mossley 3s away @ 2.30pm
3s v Cookstown 3s away @ 1pm
4s v Cookstown 4s away @ 2.30pm

Ladies
1s v Lisnagarvey 2s away @ 4pm (McConnell Shield)
2s v Grosvenor 2s @ Havelock @ 1.00pm

3s No game

4s No Game