Hockey

The Royal School Hockey club have been training very hard since September with Ms. Cowan looking after the teams, along with Sasha Gannon who very kindly and willingly gives up her time to come in and train the teams twice a week. In their first outing of the season the girls were faced with one of the trickiest fixtures of the season, an away trip to Dundalk Grammar

In their second fixture of the year, the girls travelled to play Mercy Navan on the 23rd March with a depleted squad due to illness and absence. The Senior girls were up first and put in a brave performance against a strong Mercy side. Despite some heroic defending at times, the team eventually fell to a 5-0 loss against a Mercy side who deserved their win on the day. The Junior girls followed and they put in a fantastic performance to come away with a comprehensive 4-0 win. Emma Ritchie managed to bag herself 2 great goals with Yasmin Peeters and Katie also scoring one each.

The first league games of the season took place on the 14^th October against Dundalk Grammar School. The Minor B team got their season off to a fantastic start with a very comprehensive 3-0 win, with goals coming from Amy Duffy, Abby McDowell & Edel Murdy. Next up was the Minor A team who had a brilliant battle with their opponents, before narrowly going down by 2 goals to 1. Abby McDowell again was on the scoresheet. In the final game of the day our Junior team had a colossal battle with Dundalk Grammar. Having found themselves 4-0 down at half-time, the team regathered and showed fantastic character to get back to 4-3, however their efforts came up just short. Goal scorers were Ava Nesbitt, Charlotte Moore & Olivia Moore.

The teams then travelled to play Mercy Navan in their second league fixture. The Minor B side had a huge 9-0 victory in the opening game with both Chloe Fannin & Bryana Mahood scoring hat-tricks and Abby McDowell, Louise Eccleston & Edel Murdy scoring one each. The Minor A team played out a very entertaining 2-2 draw with their opponents, with Abby McDowell & Edel Murdy again notching goals. The Senior side capped a very successful day with a 1-0 victory, Cassie O’Connor scoring the only goal of the game in a hard-fought victory.

Our Minors followed these results up with further comprehensive wins against Loreto Mullingar in both the Minor B & Minor A. In the Minor B fixture the RSC girls had a fantastic 8-0 win, with Abby McDowell x3, Edel Murdy x2, Bryanna Mahood x2 and Nicole Cassidy all on the scoresheet. The Minor A side followed this up with their own 6-0 victory, with Abby McDowell on fire with 4 goals and Bryanna Mahood & Lydia Foster both scoring one each. The next round of fixtures pitched the girls against Castlepollard Community College. Our Minor A side got the day off with a fantastic 5-0 victory (Abby McDowell x2, Louise Eccleston, Amy Duffy & Chloe Fannin). The Senior side lost 4-1 (Cassie O’Connor).

The Minor B side continued their blistering start to the season with another brilliant performance against Headford. The Royal girls got off to a fast start with Abby McDowell finding the net twice within the opening quarter. Abby went on to complete her hat-trick in the second half before Bryanna Mahood continued her fine goalscoring form by scoring the fourth and final goal to leave the score-line 4-0. Our Senior girls side finished off the fixtures for 2019 with a home fixture against Loreto Mullingar. In a very closely contested encounter in which the result could of went either way, both teams had to settle for a 2-2 draw, with Cassie O’Connor again finding the net and Ava Nesbitt scoring the other RSC goal.

In the first round of fixtures of 2020, RSC hosted Drogheda Grammar. Again the Minor B side had a very comprehensive victory, this time winning 8-0 to keep their 100% record going for the season. Goalscorers were Bryanna Mahood with a brilliant four goals and Abby McDowell & Edel Murdy chipping in with two each. Our Minor B team followed suit and also came away with an excellent victory over their opponents with a 2-1 victory. Chloe Fannin and Lydia Foster finding the net in that game. Our Junior side made it three from three with an excellent performance to come away with a 3-0 victory. Ava Nesbitt kept up her good form with two goals and Chloe Fannin scored in consecutive games to get the third RSC goal. Our Senior side were very unfortunate not to come away with their match with something, having played very well. They were defeated on the day 2-1, with Erika Nesbitt scoring the Royal goal.

In the final league fixtures of the season before finals day, and with teams still in with a chance of qualifying, Royal School Cavan faced neighbours Wilsons Hospital School. In the opening encounter the Minor B side completed their league with a magnificent 100% record with another excellent victory. The Royal girls just had too much for their opponents on the day and finished comprehensive 5-0 victors, with regular sharp shooters of Abby McDoweel, Edel Murdy & Bryanna Mahood all finding the target, as well as Lydia Foster. The Junior team had a much closer encounter in their match with both sides sharing the four goals scored in a 2-2 draw. Abby McDowell again finding the net and Ava Nesbitt keeping up her fantastic run of form in front of goals recently with the second Royal goal. In the final game of the day the Senior side managed to secure a fantastic and well-earned point with a 0-0 draw. This was made all the more impressive given the fact that this very young and inexperienced team had to field minus the leaving certificate girls on the day due to exam commitments. Unfortunately the draw on the day was not enough to secure the Seniors a place on league finals day.