Friday 28th October saw the Fermanagh School Netball Blitzes begin again in full after the Covid hiatus.
5 schools met at Enniskillen Lakeland Forum for a day of good sporting competition and inter-schools socialising.
The following schools were in the running for the title of Year 12 Blitz Winner 2022: St Fanchea’s College, Mount Lourdes Grammar, Fivemiletown College, St. Mary’s, Irvinestown and us, Enniskillen Royal Grammar.
The competition was excellent from start to finish. Superb play from all of the teams – not one was obviously stronger than the other. This made for a very tough day of competition.
Our first match was against St. Mary’s – this was a school we had never played before and as such was a unknown entity. Our girls were slow at the start as we didn’t have much of an opportunity to warm-up. In addition, four of the seven starting players have been playing together more frequently than the other three; as such, there was a period of adjustment until they found their rhythm. Once the flow of play became more comfortable, our team began to pull away from St. Mary’s, resulting in a win 5-0.
The second match was against Fivemiletown – a very strong rival. The play was end to end and nerves got the better of both teams – shots being missed by both sets of shooters. It must be said however, that both sets of defensive players (GKs and GDs) were excellent in preventing the shots being taken. Final result was a draw – 2-2.
Match number three was against St Fanchea’s, another friendly rival. Once again – no easy team to beat. Both teams kept the scores very close for the majority of the match, showing lovely skills on the court in the process. With some super passes into the circle, our shooters were finally able to slot the goals in and so managed to inch away from St Fanchea’s. Final score: 6-2.
In the other matches, all the schools were having similar results, some wins, draws and losses – as a result, the medal placings were to come down to the last match. This happened to be between us and Mount Lourdes. From the start, this was a hard match. Fast footwork, super lob passes, excellent positioning on court and really skilful play from both teams ensured a riveting match. ERGS started well, getting ahead only for MLE to draw level immediately. This end to end continued the whole way through until MLE pulled ahead by 2 goals. With time so short, our girls kept their heads and fought their way back to level the scores. In the final half minute, ERGS went into the lead and managed to hold onto it until the final whistle. A super game from both teams. Final score 7-6 to ERGS.
ERGS – 1st
FMT – 2nd
MLE – 3rd
Congratulations to all the girls for their fantastic play.
Squad: Lucy Carrothers, Freya Brennan, Jessica Stronge, Leah Irwin, Anna Cairns, Gemma Elliott, Annabelle Crawford, Lucie-Anne Abbott, Jodie Thompson, Eve Balfour & Jessica Foy.
