The Girls’ U18 1st Hockey Team had a great trip to Dublin over the weekend from Friday 13th October to Sunday 15th October as they ventured over the Irish Sea for fixtures and match training with a local Dublin team.
Flick, Deputy Head Girl, who was part of the group, enthused, “One of the highlights of this half term has been the Dublin Hockey Tour that took place over the weekend. I think it was a really great opportunity for all year groups in first team hockey to get together. It was a real laugh and we went to Dublin and we also went to Skerries. It was a really good opportunity to meet with Eithne who was a previous teacher. We got to visit Skerries Community College and we also won two of our matches 2-1 which was really great. The practice has really come in and it was really great.”
Hockey coach and former GB Hockey player, Matt Richards, shared more details:
“After a super-smooth journey on Friday 13th we went straight to a town called Balbriggan, 30 minutes north of Dublin, to play our first fixture which was a mix of Skerries Community College girls and Loreto School.
The girls were a little weary from the travelling, but they got up to speed quickly with an early goal from Charlotte H (Upper Sixth) followed by another well worked goal from Charlotte C (Lower Sixth). As the teams were switched around a little bit, we then ended up conceding a very impressive goal. A 2-1 win was a great way to start our tour.
We walked 10 minutes down the road to check-in to our hotel, the LaLa Restaurant and Bedford Hotel, Balbriggan. The girls stayed in some cosy and fun ‘Japanese style pod’ rooms which were bunk-bed-esque. Everyone loved it! We had a great meal together as a team, and you could see the girls getting closer by the minute – team bonding flourishing.
Saturday morning, we had breakfast and then headed into Dublin city centre via a local train which was a scenic coastal track. The clear blue skies and crisp weather made it feel like winter was already here. We arrived at Dublin Pearse station at 11.30am where we then walked along the central canal, to then swing past Trinity College and finally up on to Grafton street which was recommended as one of the best shopping streets in Dublin. The girls had some time to get some food and do any shopping they desired, whilst staff sat in the sun and had a coffee. At about 2.00pm we met again and made our way back to the station to then get on a train and go out to Skerries, which was a similar distance away from Dublin as Balbriggan was.
We then played our second fixture of the tour against Skerries Community College and local community club where Eithne Laird (one of our Old Leightonians, former LP Geography teacher) works. It was a beautiful afternoon, and the girls reflected the lovely weather with their energetic style of play. We got another early goal which was scored this time by Diana (Lower Sixth) after a speedy counter-attack created right after a set of magnificent saves from Liv (Year 11) in goal. Another impressive solo goal from one of the Skerries players meant we were all level 1-1 at half time. In the second half the girls started playing some extremely fluid and connected passing hockey through the likes of Rebecca, Chloe, Charlotte C, and captain Charlotte H, from which our captain Charlotte scored a super goal as the winner towards the end of the game. The girls came away with another 2-1 win, and therefore a very successful hockey part of the tour.
We then got ourselves back over to Balbriggan on a bus which was only 15 minutes, to have an earlier dinner which allowed us to watch the Ireland v NZ rugby game (not something we wanted to be in Dublin city for!). We were then able to settle in for the night.
Sunday morning brought about another pristine day with the weather, but also Charlotte C’s 17th birthday which meant we had a nice team breakfast together. We packed our stuff up and checked out from the hotel to then go back over to Skerries to see Eithne and her girls’ hockey team. We gave all the girls time to have a little walk around the sea front and have some hot drinks from local coffee shops/bakeries. It was awesome to see our girls and the Irish girls get on so well. They have made good friends, and some of them would love to go on holiday in their own time to go back to visit!
After a lovely lunch that was put on for us by Eithne, we then sadly said our goodbyes and departed at 3.00pm to head back to the airport. Despite there being a 90-minute delay on our flight, the spirits were not dampened at all, and we all had a nice time sitting and chatting in the airport departures lounge after a very successful, fun, tiring and rewarding long weekend away in Dublin. we arrived back at LP shortly after 11pm thanks to Tim and Sam picking us up in the LP minibuses. The player’s player of the tour went to Charlotte C, and the coaches player of the tour went to Liv W in goal – both were superb and they received a little leprechaun memento!
We’ve started what we hope to be a long-standing connection between our two schools, and we are already looking forward to welcoming the Skerries girls over to LP this time next year in 2024.”
Take a look at more photos from the weekend on our Flickr gallery.
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