It felt surreal, in some ways, that the abiding feeling after a comprehensive – and thoroughly deserved – 3-0 win for Dublin University Ladies Hockey Club (DULHC) over North Kildare was not unchecked contentment, but satisfaction tinged with frustration.
Such are the standards, however, that DULHC have set this season in Division 1 of the Leinster League that what amounted, in the end, to a fourth win in five games and yet another clean sheet in the provincial league was not at the end a cause for total celebration yesterday.
For Trinity’s hockey players, the ultimate goal is much bigger: a return to the top division of Irish hockey, via the Irish Hockey League (IHL) 2. Speaking to The University Times after the game, DULHC head coach Brian Scully intimated as much: “If we’re to judge ourselves by high standards, we didn’t execute things well enough in the top quarter of the pitch.”
“If we create those sorts of chances in the IHL and we don’t take them”, he added, “we’re not going to get more chances, and that’s why we would be a little dissatisfied with our performance, not necessarily the result”.
That Trinity can miss a hatful of chances and still emerge 3-0 winners, though, speaks volumes about the dominance they exerted today in most areas of the pitch. For most of the game they were almost totally dominant, save for what Scully called “a couple of counter-attacks that we shouldn’t have allowed happen”.
Trinity’s passing was sharp in the game’s opening moments, their movement precise. Wriggling into gaps between the lines, Sally Campbell and Ailish Long were able to pick the ball up between the defence and midfield of the visitors, and it was only a matter of moments before Trinity were in the lead. Susie Osborne was the one to get her name on the scoresheet, from a short corner in the game’s opening minutes.
Minutes later Clodagh Fullston was adding to DULHC’s advantage, making no mistake at the back post after some clever build-up play.
The third, if equally well executed, was an exercise in simplicity, as in four uninterrupted passes DULHC carved up the visitors’ defensive banks. Erica Markey was the beneficiary, finding herself with acres of space in the North Kildare D and smashing home on the run.
At 3-0, the game seemed decided, with North Kildare having trouble clearing their lines in the face of a still-stifling Trinity press. Half-time, however, came and went without further forays into the North Kildare net, and DULHC were beginning to show signs of profligacy.
Markey and Fullston missed chances in the second half’s opening minutes, and a string of superb saves in the visitors’ goal – denying Rachel Burns, Sally Campbell and Ailish Long – kept the scoreline steady.
At the other end, Cam Stephens was caught loitering in possession, but Issy Delamer swept up without too much trouble and DULHC were on the attack again. Campbell beat efforts towards top corner and bottom, but again good goalkeeping kept Trinity at bay. Rare moments of chaos in DULHC’s D came to nothing in the end.
A final venture into Trinity’s circle by the visitors’ was brought to a halt by the umpire’s whistle, and DULHC could reflect on a deserved win. Against the tougher opposition that Trinity face in IHL 2, however, a greater degree of ruthlessness is a prerequisite – Scully’s charges take on University College Cork (UCC) in two weeks needing a win after two IHL defeats in two games.
“Overall”, Scully reflected, “we’re happy. Look, it’s a 3-0 win, we still haven’t conceded a goal in this division after five matches. We’re happy, but work to do”.
