Three’s a crowd as College stun Quins

Áine Connery struck in the opening and closing minutes in a memorable win for UCC. Picture: Adrian Boehm

UCC blew the title race wide open in the Munster women’s senior league Division One with a stunning 3-0 win over champions Cork Harlequins at the Mardyke earlier tonight.

Early goals from Audrey O’Flynn and Áine Connery helped College — who handed Quins their first league defeat in eight seasons last term — on their way to a famous victory, before Connery put the icing on the cake later on.

While last season’s 1-0 victory had come about via a fortuitous goal from Jean Long, there was no doubting that the students fully deserved this one, as they look to wrest the title from Harlequin Park for the first time since 1995.

The result means the league is a three-horse race once more, as Quins, C of I and UCC have now all lost once, though Quins maintain a three-point advantage at the summit, having played a game more.

While College’s 1-0 defeat to C of I last month suggested they might not be part of the final shake-up this term, this win has put them right back on track. The Mardyke girls’ fate is likely to be decided this side of Christmas however, as they must host C of I and travel to Quins on successive weekends next month.

Quins never hit the highs of their 2-0 league victory over C of I in October, but they can rightly feel they have been disadvantaged by a fixture schedule that has robbed them of their Irish international players for their two biggest league games of the season so far.

While Eimear Cregan is still troubled by a foot injury that ruled her out of tonight’s clash, Quins were also without Cliodhna Sargent due to the proximity of the weekend’s international series, and Yvonne O’Byrne was also absent.

It took them less than 15 minutes to settle at the Mardyke, but by that time, College were already two goals to the good. O’Flynn set the students on their way in the fifth minute, hammering home after a short corner switch, before Connery’s deflection from the penalty spot seven minutes later doubled their advantage.

A shell-shocked Quins side gradually played their way back into contention and improved in the second half, forcing two short corners, but they couldn’t find a way past College netminder Karen Olden.

Eibhlín O’Donoghue thought she’d finished the job when she found the net from a short corner move with ten minutes remaining, but the goal was correctly chalked off as her shot failed to hit the backboard.

However, it mattered little as Connery put the result beyond doubt eight minutes from time, deflecting the ball past Amy O’Neill in a copycat fashion of her first strike.