First Round England 64 v Northern Ireland 37
In the first round Northern Ireland came out of the blocks taking England by surprise and winning a 3-0 lead. With fantastic inter play between O’Sullivan, Guthrie, Harten and Delves England brought themselves straight back in to the game levelling the scores at 3 - 3. Lennon kept a steady hand to keep Northern Ireland only down by two at ¼ time.
In the 2nd quarter Perry on for Keable at GD came on and steadied the rocky defence for England from the first half, while Rose slotted in to WA to continue the fast pace in attack. The continued pressure from England in both circles didn’t seem to faze McCullough and Lennon creating space with some great movement which kept Northern Ireland within touching distance.
After half time England remained unchanged. Whilst Northern Ireland swapped their circles around with Bowman going from GK to GS and Lennon the reverse. With some increased pressure in the centre court the interceptions increased mainly coming from O’Sullivan and Guthrie with this it increased the confidence which pulsed down the court to the shooting circle where Harten and Delves found their range and pulled the lead out to 21 entering ¾ time.
With a slow start to thy final quarter many errors could be seen on the court from both sides. Northern Ireland pressured in the centre court which lead to three minutes to pass with only two goals from each team. Composure swept over the central three of England in Guthrie, Bloomfield and O’Sullivan which helped England to regain control of the match. With wild balls flying into the circles and both ends of the court England’s where the ones that were sticking and they took their first victory of the championships.
England co-coach Jess Garland said “It was good to get a win under out belts and see four new caps take the court” (Abi Ryan, Danni Bloomfield, Sam Perry, and Katy Rose)
“We were inconstant at times but pleased with the 2nd and 3rd quarters where we worked harder to steal more ball from the Northern Ireland’s attack and were able to convert more effectively at goal.”
Kelly Morgan took the court for Wales in the second quarter at GK with a shuffle in defence Davies went to GD and Williams to the bench. Two minutes 23 passed until the first goal of the quarter was scored closely followed by a second for Moseley closing the gap. With mistakes from both sides creeping in the match entered a very scrappy period with the ball moving from circle to circle but with little reward. Entering the last five minutes of the quarter an injury timeout saw Moseley switch with Neate off the bench at GS in the Welsh shooting circle. Scotland ended the half nine up.
A more controlled start from Scotland saw them up the lead to 12. With a true Celtic battle on the court Wales brought the deficit down to nine, back to were they started the half, but Scotland also finished the way they started by regaining the 12 goal lead which they would take in to the final quarter.
Scotland made changes with Higgins to GA and Docherty to WD whilst Wales brought on WD N. James. An early injury timeout for Wales seemed to help them settle with some nice interplay, but Scotland held the pressure and extended the lead once again to 13. With a heavy fall Hamilton left the court replaced at WA by Higgins which meant that Dingwall coming back off the bench to the shooting circle. Wales WD N. James found herself with a warning for persistent offending. With two minutes left that warning lead to James being sent from the court for three goals. Once James rejoined the game the result was in the bag for Scotland.
Day two England 59 v Wales 25
A strong fluent start saw England go three up. After some patient play by Wales an interception by Guthrie turned the ball giving the opportunity for a long penetrating feed with some touch passing by Harten and Rose in the circle 7 – 0 was the score to England at 10 minutes. An improved patch for Wales followed taking them to 8 – 4, with some excellent mid court defence England went in to the quarter break 13 – 6.
Ryan took her first cap in the 2nd quarter at GD. An injury to Welsh shooter James saw Neate take the court. Nice fluent passes by captain Rutley in the circle saw Wales move to being only 4 down at 14 – 10. Harten who just seemed to appear from no where on many occasions was instrumental in increasing the lead to 22 -11 after 10 minutes. The teams went in to half time 29 – 13.
Early in the 3rd quarter an injury to Williams for Wales gave Morgan an opportunity to take the court. With a well timed clean interception by Ryan she found herself taking the crowds breathe away, which resulted in a quality goal at 37 – 18 with five minutes remaining on the clock. The last two minutes saw some end to end play resulting from turnovers on both sides.
Keable made it difficult for the feeders to get the ball in to the circle for the Welsh shooters resulting in a smooth passage through to Wood and Harten at the opposite end of the court. England took another strong victory.
Co coaches Anna Mayes and Jess Garland commented on the Game: “Pleased to get the start we wanted going out to a 7 – 0 lead denying Wales of a score for the first 5 minutes. The quarter finished 13 – 5 with Harten scoring 100%. We consolidated well in the second quarter and extended the lead to 29 – 13 with GS Allison netting 11/12.” "The third quarter saw England’s defence in particular Guthrie step up and turn more ball over. However with both teams making changes at times Wales fought hard to close the gap.”
Northern Ireland 42 v Scotland 49
After an unsettled start Scotland edged ahead 8 – 4. Sleek interchanging thought the goal third from Scotland saw them increase their lead. With increased pressure from Northern Ireland’s circle defence in Lennon and McAfee Scotland stepped up a gear and finished the quarter 14 – 7.
With a more structured start to the second quarter from Northern Ireland. Bowman and McCullough calmed in the shooting circle due to a more controlled centre court which had seen the introduction of C.Brunton at WD. With fighting spirit Northern Ireland brought their selves right back in it closing the gap to two. But in a final flourish by Scotland leading in to the half time whistle Scotland’s shooters sunk three goals to take a five goal lead at half time.
The 3rd quarter lost some tempo and became a little static despite that Scotland continued to find the net. In what continued as a quite quarter Scotland carried on slowly increasing the gap.
The play settled and Northern Ireland hit a purple patch showing some improvement. With the teams exchanging blows and going goal for goal for a five minute period until an interception from Cooper for Scotland broke the flow. In the final three minutes the games pace increased and Northern Irelands Bowman and McCullough ended what in the end was a good game for both teams, hitting the target and helped Northern Ireland win two of the quarters.
Wales made the first move taking a 6 - 0 lead in the first four minutes. James and Rutley were on fine form finding space and the net with ease.
Northern Ireland’s centre court put in some honest hard work and began to feed the shooting circle closing the gap to three. One final intercept form Davies in the Welsh circle saw it converted and Wales taking a four goal lead into quarter time.
Northern Ireland came out firing equalling the score in the first two minutes without response. At 14 – 14 Northern Ireland continued to exert the pressure in the shooting third moving ahead by three and 7 – 0 within the quarter.
Wales took five minutes to take their first goal, but that led to them working the ball around the circle with some good movement from James levelled the score at 19 – 19.
A fantastic hanging interception form Lennon in the circle was unlucky to not meet success at the other end and Wales took a slender one goal lead into half time in what was a fantastic half.
In an enthralling start to the second half the teams exchanged blows in what was turning into a highly contested game. Wales began to struggle to find the shooters and Northern Ireland’s attack capitalised taking a four goal lead.
A bullet feed from the centre third to Rutley from Davies brought Wales back into the game after a good patch by Northern Ireland, they came out in the same vain that they left the court in the final quarter but with some quick thinking on a couple of occasions by James, Wales regained a couple of goals which brought them back to within three.
The Welsh work horse for the final quarter was most definitely James who could be seen all over her two-thirds with interceptions which brought the game to one goal. But in the end a cool head from Bowman took Northern Ireland clear and to their first victory of the Championships and third place over all.
England v Scotland
England started their second game at a pace Scotland was just not ready for going five goals down without reply. Some inspiring play form the England squad saw them move further ahead. Scotland’s MacDonald and Dingwall took the opportunities that they had and made it through the solid defence from England’s Perry and Beckford-Chambers.
England continued at the pace from the first quarter but Scotland came out and joined them. England’s shooters with some aggressive drives into the circle were finding space for them to shoot and take England to a ten goal lead. Perry, Beckford-Chambers and Guthrie were proving a hard rock to shift for Scotland’s attack and the full court defence that England were playing made the passage for Scotland hard work.
Scotland struggled to find the rhythm that they had in the last two days which England took advantage of taking a six goal lead. Keable was again proving that her timing was on this weekend taking some great interceptions backed by her partner in the circle Beckford-Chambers on consistent form.
An interesting change at three quarter time from co-coach Mayes and Garland saw Perry on at WD, Wood to WA adding height throughout the court. The call from the England’s bench came to lift the squad. They capped off a good three days with their final win and the Championship title.
Anna Mayes co-coach of England said “We are really pleased to finish off the weekend with the group continuing to move forward in light of our preparation towards the World Youth Championships. We understood the importance of the World ranking points so it was great to be put under that pressure at this stage of our programme.”
