Quins leave it late to deny battling Bandon

Dan Hobbs broke brave Bandon’s resistance two minutes from time to help Cork Harlequins retain the Peard Cup with a 1-0 win in an intriguing final at Harlequin Park yesterday. The hosts’ profligacy had looked set to condemn this tie to golden-goal extra time, as they spurned a series of chances from play in a match they dominated. A stunning goalkeeping performance from Bandon’s Ian Hosford and a defensive masterclass led by Nigel Martin had much to do with that, but Quins had no excuse for spurning 12 short corner chances before Hobbs’ low drag-flick found the backboard on 68 minutes. Quins coach Stephen Dale, who watched his side struggle to break down C of I B in similar circumstances before eventually taking last year’s final 2-0, lamented his side’s tendency to do things the hard way. “The tempo was good and we played well and created a huge amount of chances, but our finishing was shocking,” he said. “The longer it stayed 0-0 the more likely they were to hit us on the counter-attack, and to be fair, they had one very good chance a few minutes from the end.” That came on 62 minutes, as Bandon went close to becoming the first side to break a C of I/Quins stronghold on the cup dating back to 1985, when Belvedere crashed the party The west Cork side’s wunderkind Darren Sweetnam pickpocketed Jason Black and exchanged passes with Ali Smith down the right, before working Smith into a one-on-one with Chris Daunt. But as the former Ireland U18 striker wound up his reverse shot, Rob Hobbs did just enough to put him off, and Smith’s effort slid wide.

That was just Bandon’s second — and last — shot on goal all game, the first coming 20 minutes in when David Smith failed to beat Daunt at his near post after good work from Sweetnam. But it was one-way traffic otherwise, with Quins producing some neat stuff in midfield but repeatedly failing to find a black stick with crash balls from the wings. John Hobbs went closest after just six minutes, when he saw his first drag-flick cannon off an upright before Hosford saved his second effort on the rebound. And David Mills should have done better 20 minutes later when Hosford rebounded a Paul Lombard shot into his path five yards out, but the ball struck his foot with the Bandon keeper grounded and helpless. But Martin, with the aid of Craig Stone and Mark Deane, was doing a superb job of breaking up Quins attacks, while Bandon used Ali Smith’s pace to decent effect in blocking short corner attempts. They and netminder Hosford frustrated both Hobbs brothers and Jason Black from set-pieces, while Dan Hobbs saw a few efforts fly wide as he looked to find his range again after four weeks on the sidelines. Despite seeing his side’s hopes dashed in the final furlong, Bandon coach Ger Burns was pleased with the attitude of his young charges. “I don’t see much difference in the ability of my players and the top sides — the difference is in confidence,” he said. “Bandon have been beaten by C of I and Quins for years and years, so I’m trying to change the mentality, so they’re confident when they go to play these teams. “In terms of teamwork and set-plays, Bandon are as good as anybody, so it’s just about getting over the confidence side of things, and we’re getting there.” Dale, meanwhile, admitted that missing Sean Nicholson – ruled out with a niggle despite being named in the initial squad – had an effect on their short corner routines, but knows Quins’ finishing must improve ahead of some tough Irish Senior Cup and Irish Hockey League assignments in the new year.

“You need to be killing games off early on, normally you’d expect at least eight goals from 13 corners,” he said. “The corners will come right, my worry is the number of chances we missed from play. But there is a positive, at least we’re creating those chances. Bandon were stubborn as well, they’re not going to give anything away easily and their keeper is superb, you have to take that into account.” CORK HARLEQUINS: C Daunt (GK); R Hobbs, J Hobbs, P O’Driscoll, J Black; L d’Alton, M Black, D Lombard; P Lombard (capt), P Murray, D Egner. Rolling subs: G Fromme, D Hobbs, D Mills, C Ross. BANDON: I Hosford (GK); C Stone, M Deane (capt), N Martin, C Wood; R O’Leary, D Smith, R Roycroft; F O’Leary, A Smith, G Kingston. Rolling subs: D Beamish, D Sweetnam, M Kingston, S McElroy. Umpires: S McAllister, A Gray