Raphoe men's senior hockey side shine as Portrush defeated in Linden Cup

Raphoe men's first XI hosted Portrush at home in the Linden Cup at the weekend and came away with an Impressive win.

After a shaky start from Raphoe, Portrush managed to have a couple early chances but the Raphoe keeper handling it impressively to deny any goals. 

Raphoe started to get momentum in the second quarter and took the lead after good work from Jake McKnight to find Matthew Lecky at the edge of the circle and Lecky made no mistake in slotting it home.

From this Raphoe started to take control of the game with Lecky slotting home two more goals from short corners.

The fourth goal came from Jake McKnight who sealed the win for Raphoe. An Impressive result for a young Raphoe team under the watchful eye of coach Lee Stewart. 

Raphoe travel to Mossley next Saturday for an away fixture in the Linden Cup group stage

The second XI took on Bangor 4s. The newly promoted Bangor side started very strongly and went into the lead early on with an impressive reverse strike from the Bangor forward beating the Raphoe keeper. 

Raphoe were struggling to get a hold of the game all through the first half and let Bangor sneak another two weak goals. 

Into the third quarter and Raphoe started to get grips with Bangor and started to create a few chances. Raphoe clawed back two goals with William Meehan and Luke Barnett both finding the back of the net in the second half.

This left a thrilling end to the game but unfortunately Raphoe had just too much of a mountain to climb from their early mistakes and result ending 3-2 in favour of Bangor

Raphoe thirds travelled to Annadale with a bare 11 and fought out a tight match. With only one goal in it for most of the match Raphoe started to lose steam and Annadale took advantage scoring four goals in the final quarter and beating Raphoe 5-0. 

Good performances from some of the young players so no doubt some good results to come.