Likely lads and lasses

With Irish coaches Gene Muller and Paul Revington holed up in the Garryduff stand for much of last weekend, the senior interprovincials offered them a chance to run the rule over all of the best athletes at their disposal at one venue.

While the likes of Leinster pivots Stephen Butler and Nikki Symmons, tournament top goalscorer John Jermyn and Ulster stalwart Bridget Cleland are fixtures in the national setups, Southern Fried takes a look at the fringe players and young pretenders who caught the eye during what is widely acknowledged as an unofficial Irish trial.

Jonny Bruton's (left) pace was a constant thorn in the sides of opposition defences. Picture: Eoin Tyrrell

Jonny Bruton (Cork C of I and Munster)

While the talk beforehand was of the arsenal of forward talent at Leinster and Ulster’s disposal, Munster livewire Bruton emerged with more credit than most, despite not finding the net. While the likes of Eugene Magee and Timmy Cockram grabbed the headlines with spectacular goals, Bruton will have won serious kudos for his all-round performance and link play.

A player who speeds up when in possession rather than slowing down, Bruton’s searing pace gave Ulster in particular constant headaches, winning countless shorts and frees in the 25, and offers Revington a different option up front. Bruton’s work-rate at the head of the Munster press won’t have gone unnoticed either, though he did blot his copybook slightly by firing wide when in the clear against the northerners, a chance he’d normally dispatch in his sleep.

But with the other forward of the tournament, Mark Gleghorne, mulling over a move to GB, Bruton is surely top of the queue to be groomed as his long-term replacement, assuming Alan Sothern and Mitch Darling – who were both relatively subdued – are already part of the furniture at Belfield.

Emma Smyth (Railway Union and Leinster)

The clamour in Leinster for Smyth to get a chance to display her silky skills in a green shirt was finally rewarded last week with an Ireland A call-up, and the Railway star did her claims no harm in Cork last weekend.

Defenders in each of the other three provinces struggled to contain her close control and lightning changes of direction when cutting in from the left, and she struck up a decent understanding with Nikki Symmons in the Leinster midfield as well as getting a few assists to her credit.

There is still a school of thought that she doesn’t bring other players into the game enough, but Smyth’s innate talent surely marks her out as the natural successor to Jenny McDonough, who retired from the international scene earlier this year.

Ulster's Chris Cargo (right) impressed despite being played out of position. Picture: Eoin Tyrrell

Chris Cargo (Reading and Ulster)

Forced to make frantic arrangements to get to Cork from England at short notice as late replacement for injury victim David Ames, Cargo grasped his opportunity with both hands despite being played out of position. A defender by trade, the former Bangor man was instead given the unenviable task of trying to shine up front alongside messrs Magee, Cockram and Gleghorne for Ulster.

Revington can’t help but have been impressed by how he took to the task like a duck to water, scoring in both games. His strike against Leinster was one any forward would have been proud of, as he wrong-footed Ronan Gormley and swerved inside before crashing an unstoppable reverse into the bottom corner.

Having spent four years at Bath Buccaneers, he is now, by his own admission, reaping the benefits of playing alongside some of the game’s luminaries at Reading, a side regularly at the business end England’s top tier and in the last 16 of the EuroHockey League. Amazingly, this was his first time in the Ulster senior squad, but don’t be surprised to see him hovering under Revington’s radar in the coming months.

Audrey O’Flynn (UCC and Munster)

O’Flynn’s dedication to self-improvement has paid serious dividends this season, culminating in a maiden appearance in green for the A side against Canada in January. Her long-range distribution is a notable feature of her game, but it is her value to her team at corner time at both ends of the pitch that helps her stand out from the crowd.

One of the few in the women’s game who can find any of the four corners with a drag-flick – as anyone who saw her find the top corner in the MSC final against Bandon on Tuesday will testify – O’Flynn unfortunately got little chance to show off this facet of her game, as her participation was curtailed by a foot injury.

Furthermore, her prowess as first runner – similar to C of I’s Adam Pritchard – at the defensive end was all the more noticeable when she was off the pitch. Ulster got little change out of their corner routines due to her pace off the line in the first half of Saturday’s clash, only to seem to have plenty of time to claim their winning goals from set-pieces when O’Flynn was stuck on the sidelines.

Clare Parkhill’s departure from the Irish scene has left a vacancy at the back as Gene Muller builds for the 2012 Olympics, but O’Flynn and the other defensive hopefuls will still have a job dislodging the vastly experienced pair of Ciara O’Brien and Bridget Cleland.

Ulster's Megan Frazer (left) had a quiet tournament, while Munster's Audrey O'Flynn (right) impressed despite her campaign being interrupted by injury. Picture: Eoin Tyrrell

John Jackson (Loughborough and Ulster)

Jackson has followed the well-worn path of Ulster players heading across the water to the superb professional setup at Loughborough, and like team-mate Cargo, the advantages of playing in such a competitive league are plain to see, as every time Jackson returns to compete on home soil he seems to have come on in leaps and bounds.

A player who sometimes looked out of his depth at the Setanta Sports Trophy last summer, Jackson was coolness personified at the heart of Ulster’s defence here. Man-of-the-match by this writer’s reckoning in Ulster’s 3-1 defeat of Leinster, his distribution and organisation were top notch and he repeatedly closed the door on Sothern and Darling, even when those around him were struggling to keep their heads above water.

What Jackson lacks in stature he makes up for in controlled physicality, and pleasingly for Revington, there is still plenty of room for improvement in a player who continues to go from strength to strength.

Michelle Harvey (Pegasus and Ulster)

Former Victorians starlet Harvey takes the role of attacking full-back very seriously indeed, and she stood out in a young Ulster team that went unbeaten throughout the tournament despite playing nowhere near their potential.

With Lauren Barr and Megan Frazer having quiet tournaments, Harvey’s efficiency on the flanks marked her out as the best of the Ulster young guns.

Blessed with innate vision and awareness of space, Harvey is another who is handy at corner time and Garryduff has become something of a lucky charm for her – she scored there on her senior Ireland debut against France last July, and bagged two more against Connacht. Learning from the likes of Arlene Boyles and Jill Orbinson at Belfast powerhouses Pegasus can only further the youngster’s progression.

Cathy McKean (left) headed up a forward unit that claimed nine of Leinster's ten goals. Picture: Eoin Tyrrell

The entire Leinster women’s forward line

A primary reason for Leinster taking the title back east was the quality and pace of the forwards available to Rudi Wortmann in comparison to the other provinces. Just when defenders felt they had the measure of, say, Anna O’Flanagan and Lisa Jacob, on came Cathy McKean and Róisín Flinn. And as if that wasn’t enough, Jean McDonnell and Nikki Keegan were chomping at the bit on the sideline.

Wortmann rotated his front pairings relentlessly, something that must have got inside the heads of the long-suffering defenders of Munster and Connacht, and eventually their legs too, as they were inevitably run ragged.

While the sextet were surprisingly short of potency in the scoreless draw with Ulster, the floodgates opened thereafter, with nine of Leinster’s ten goals – the majority coming from open play – being shared among the six-shooters.

Muller will have been impressed with their ability to repeatedly get to the endline to create tap-ins for each other, though he is still short and out-and-out goalscorer. McKean’s brace against Munster highlighted why she is the closest thing Ireland have to that, but the national side has been over-reliant on her in recent years.

Of the contenders, McDonnell has had the best season thus far, winning plenty of deserved plaudits for her strike-rate for Railway this term, and her all-round game is on the money. But there is a nagging feeling that she needs too many chances to score, and more ruthlessness is presumably required to transform her into an international-quality forward.

Aine Connery (UCC and Munster)

For all the various qualities of the Leinster forwards, none possess the x-factor that Connery brings to the proceedings. Although she hasn’t always been her usual self at UCC this term, Kilkenny-born Connery inevitably shines on the big stage – as her goalscoring exploits for Ireland A at the Junior Celtic Cup last summer are testament to.

In the same vein as Leinster’s Peter Blakeney, Connery is something of a maverick, a trait which excites and exasperates coaches in equal measure. But she was given free reign by Munster coach Paidi Hartnett, and was the weekend’s most conspicuous forward as a result.

Munster's Aine Connery (right, with sister Sinead) was the stand-out forward of the women's tournament. Picture: Eoin Tyrrell

While critics can point to a relatively high ratio of missed chances, this ignores the fact that Connery has usually created such opportunities herself out of thin air.

The GAA skill set that has also served Eugene Magee and Eimear Cregan so well was consistently in evidence; her strike against Ulster, where she danced a bouncing ball past two defenders and the goalkeeper in the blink of an eye, was the stand-out individual strike of the women’s tournament.

Southern Fried lost count of the times she skinned defenders on the outside, and like McKean, she is one of the few forwards in the women’s game who is equally comfortable on her reverse as the strong side. She also brought her good form into UCC’s MSC win the following Tuesday, earning the player of the match accolade.

The caveat of whether she is Muller’s type of player continues to loom large, but surely Connery’s genius must be brought back to the table sooner rather than later to allow her to add to the 12 caps she has so far.

Louisa Healy (Loreto and Connacht)

While it is admittedly easy to stand out between the sticks when you have the weakest team of the tournament in front of you, Connacht netminder Healy’s performances were at times reminiscent of Shay Given’s Newcastle career, as she was single-handedly responsible for keeping the score down in all three games.

The Loreto shot-stopper’s most memorable moment was a mind-boggling triple save from Munster’s Aine Connery, Julia O’Halloran and Hollie Moffett on day one, but any video highlights package would have easily taken up a lunch hour, such was her form.

While Healy was the standout goalie of the tournament, none of the keepers did their chances any harm, though Leinster’s David Fitzgerald, a recent Ireland A call-up, and Ulster’s Ian Hughes have every right to be miffed, after failing to see any action over the weekend.

John Jackson was a rock at the heart of the Ulster defence. Picture: Eoin Tyrrell

Joe Brennan (Glenanne and Leinster)

In a men’s tournament largely dominated by the established stars, Glenanne sweeper Joe Brennan gave a couple of glimpses of the form which has seen him integrated into the Irish setup this season.

A sickening knee injury suffered against Ulster – after he bore the full brunt of a Eugene Magee blast – brought his tournament to abrupt end, and Leinster subsequently went to pieces at the back in his absence, shipping the goals that cost them the title inside five minutes of his departure.

A clever long game, superb tactical awareness and a bullet push-out had been the hallmarks of Brennan’s involvement up until then, and while he isn’t as much of a flair player as the departed Iain Lewers, he will certainly not put the hearts across Irish fans at the back as much as the enigmatic HGC man did.

Do you agree with these selections? Which players impressed you at Garryduff last weekend? Have your say below!