Stroke of fortune favours UCC

UCC pulled off the shock of the second round of the women’s Irish Junior Cup with a penalty strokes win over Cork Harlequins in a nail-biting local derby at Harlequin Park, after the sides ended deadlocked at 2-2 after extra time.

A Quins side featuring the likes of Rachael Kohler, Johanna Hyland and Jane Chapple were unbackable favourites beforehand to use their experience to oust the students, but they couldn’t shake off a determined College outfit.

Indeed, Quins bossed the game for long periods, and the corner count of 11 to one in their favour says much about their dominance. But College actually led twice, while sterling defensive performances from Kate Murphy, Kate O’Sullivan and Lisa Treacy, plus some fine goalkeeping from Caroline Levis, kept the red hordes at bay.

Fiona O'Connell (right) was instrumental in UCC's shock IJC win over Quins. Picture: Adrian Boehm

Fiona O’Connell gave UCC a shock lead against the run of play on 14 minutes, when she was given far too much time to shoot and unleashed a rocket which found the top corner via Dale Burkley’s stick.

Chapple fired wide when a defensive error let her in at the other end, while Levis saved well from a Kohler corner strike as Quins began to turn the screw, but College held out for a single-goal lead at the break.

However, the Quins equaliser arrived within 30 seconds of the restart, Chapple deftly chipping a rebound over the grounded Levis to regain parity.

Quins continued to dominate, but couldn’t break down a resolute College set-piece defence, and a College breakaway on 57 minutes saw them take the lead for a second time. Levis pulled off a reaction save from Kay Gaffney’s corner effort, and the pace of Vicky O’Sullivan helped College win a corner at the other end, their sole set-piece of the game.

And it was O’Sullivan who produced the vital intervention, forcing the ball home on her reverse after O’Connell’s initial strike was well saved by Deirdre Conroy in the Quins goal, to set up a backs-to-the-wall finale.

Quins eventually broke the College resistance two minutes from time, Erica Breen slotting a superb cross into the path of Denise O’Connor, who expertly swept the ball home to equalise and force extra time.

College had the better of the first period, and O’Sullivan had a glorious chance to win it when O’Connell found her with a square ball five metres out, but the impressive Edwina McGrath did just enough to put her off, and her reverse-stick effort flew wide.

And so to the strokes; Kate Herbert’s opener for Quins slid wide, while Kate Murphy made no mistake for UCC. McGrath’s scuffed effort was easily stopped by Levis, who then guessed right to deny Rachel O’Byrne, with Vicky O’Sullivan netting in between for College.

O’Connell sent Conroy the wrong way but saw her effort rebound off the upright, while Gaffney found the top corner to keep Quins in it. But Nicky Kingston made no mistake with College’s fourth effort to secure a famous victory.

Jane Chapple impressed on one of her first games back in a Quins shirt, scoring her side's first goal. Picture: Eoin Tyrrell

Elsewhere, it was a memorable day for Munster sides in the competition, with UL and Catholic Institute progressing while Bandon received a walkover from Ards, though Chloe McCann’s tgoal for Lurgan proved enough to send Ashton home with nothing to show for their efforts.

Institute showed no signs of weary legs from their trek to Coleraine, bagging nine goals without reply through doubles from Gloria Joyce, Karen Downing and Orla Curtain, with Sandra Hedigan, Claire Mulcahy and Sorcha O’Dea getting the others.

UL had to fight far harder at home to Genesis, with Susie McDonough’s double and a Laura Davis strike helping them to a 3-2 win.

Just two league games went ahead in the women’s Division One, with both panning out largely as expected. Institute continued their fine goalscoring form in an 8-1 defeat of Ashton to copper-fasten their place at the top of the table.

Munster U18s Katie Campbell and Naomi Carroll shared five goals between them, with Rosie Pratt, skipper Ali English and Aoife Kenny hitting the others in anther superlative performance. Caroline McCarthy grabbed Ashton’s consolation.

Elsewhere, Cliodhna Sargent’s double and yet another goal from Karen Bateman helped champions Quins to a workmanlike 3-0 win at Waterford.

Postponements of the C of I B vs Quins (flooded pitch) and UCC vs Bandon (injury and unavailability of goalkeepers for Bandon) left just one tie in the men’s league, with Quins B recording an eyebrow-raising 5-2 win at Institute.

A game that was scoreless at half time sprung to life after the break; Stephen Teap’s double and efforts from Philip Burns, Paul Murray and Mark Dawson gave Quins the win, with Simon Brickenden and Justin O’Sullivan replying for Institute.

But the game was marred by a melée with 15 minutes remaining, which saw Eric Calendar receive his second yellow of the match and a subsequent red, while Mark Lombard and Murray saw yellow for Quins as both sides finished with ten men.