Stuttering Harpies creep past Kestrels

Holyhead Harpies - 300* vs Kenmare Kestrels - 240

Line-Ups

	Kestrels	Harpies
Keeper	O’Hare (C)	Griffiths
Chasers	McNally	Glossop (C)
	O’Flanagan	Gaenor
	Watkins	Gladstone
Beaters	Tuckett	Samuels
	Crumb	Gibberd
Seeker	Denshaw	Bloch

The Holyhead Harpies of 2011 were an awkward and error-prone unit. This was forefront on the mind of captain Gwenevak Glossop in particular coming into their season opener and consequently, the 2012 model looks little better. The weight of expectation weighs heavy and the Harpies struggled to put their demanding fans’ mandate for improvement behind them. Not helping the equation was the always unpredictable Kenmare Kestrels, whose young Chaser combination displayed a maturity beyond their years.

The Harpies entered the match as a solid favourite yet within the first hour their defence had deteriorated and the Kestrels led 160-60. The second hour was a more even affair, with Gwynedd Gaenor in particular finding her scoring legs and beater Glynis Samuels helping marginalise the Kestrel attack. But even mere parity against the unfancied Kestrels is a worry and you could see the stress on Holyhead faces when McNally scored her 16^th goal to take back out to 90 as two hours ticked over.

But one Harpy who had remained calm and on top of her game was the unflappable Zelda Bloch. When the snitch flittered into view in the distance she pounced before Kestrel Seeker Florentia Denshaw even knew was happening. Bloch plucked the snitch from the air inches above the rudely intrusive hands of reaching Kestrel fans to pull a 300-240 win out of the bag for the fortunate Harpies.

Holyhead Harpies - 300: Gaenor 11, Gladstone, 4, Bloch Capture

Kenmare Kestrels - 240: McNally 16, Watkins 6, O'Flanagan 2

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: DEIRDRE MCNALLY (Falcons)