Railway put the skids on College’s cup ambitions

Railway Union underlined their status as the coming force in Irish hockey as they dismantled UCC 3-0 in the first round of the ESB Women’s Irish Senior Cup at the Mardyke this afternoon. On a bad day for Munster’s ladies teams, Mick McKinnon’s outfit sent a message to the onlooking Irish senior women’s coach Gene Muller – who has thus far ignored the claims of the likes of Jean McDonnell and Emma Smyth – and scored late in each half to end the students’ dreams before they even got off the ground. Railway hassled and harried the likes of Julia O’Halloran and Hollie Moffett with their press throughout, giving them no time on the ball and making it largely impossible for College to generate any momentum as they struggled to get out of their half. McDonnell’s pace in particular caused College repeated problems, as she roamed from left to right on the 25 and burned the hosts’ defence time and time again to get to the endline. One such dart in the 31st minute saw her square for Kate McKenna, who slid in but could not connect, only to get a second bite at the cherry when College failed to clear. Her close-range effort was only half-hit, but it wrong-footed College netminder Karen Olden and gave Railway a deserved half-time lead. Railway had created plenty of chances with no end product before that, while College’s only effort of note came via an Audrey O’Flynn short corner strike that flew wide. The pattern continued after the break, with Smyth and McDonnell both firing wide, before College’s Eibhlín O’Donoghue fashioned a brilliant chance out of nothing on 56 minutes. Taking down Moffett’s aerial on the turn, she ghosted between Isobel Joyce and Eimear Dolan and rounded Helen Stevenson, but appeared to be felled by the Railway keeper’s legs as she motioned to shoot into the gaping net.

Umpire Zenia Howe waved away the appeals for a stroke, but College forced a couple of corners thereafter, with Joyce doing well to block an O’Halloran effort after a tidy double switch. But Railway all but made the game safe on 61 minutes, with a goal that owed everything to Smyth’s stunning vision. Taking a sideline near halfway, she spotted McDonnell free 60 yards away across the pitch, and found her with a pinpoint pass, before the striker fired low and hard past Olden. Emer Dillon then put the icing on the cake for Railway three minutes later, and despite some charging late runs from Aine Connery, College couldn’t find a consolation. Meanwhile, in the Irish Junior Cup clash between the sides, Kate Dillon’s bobbling short corner strike 12 minutes from time piled on the misery for UCC as Leinster’s Division Two leaders scraped home 1-0. With Railway without their schools stars, College had competed well throughout, with Ciara O’Hanlon, Laoise Cotter and Hilary O’Connor in particular causing plenty of problems. But the hosts had to rely on keeper and skipper Caroline Levis to bail them out on a number of occasions, before Dillon’s awkward effort broke the students’ hearts. Elsewhere, Cork Harlequins also exited the competition at the first hurdle, going down 6-3 at Ballymoney. Nikki Parke and Julie Allison both struck doubles as the northerners finally found some form following an indifferent league campaign, with Lynsey McVicker and Aine Kearney also on the scoresheet. Cliodhna Sargent, Rachael Kohler and Rachel McSharry got the goals for Quins, who will look to get back on track when they host UCD in the Irish Hockey League next weekend. But they will face a student side still on a high from today’s remarkable penalty-strokes victory over Leinster champions Hermes. Nikki Evans skipped through three tackles before feeding former UCD girl Christine Quinlan to put Hermes ahead, before that strike was cancelled out by Holly Jenkinson.

But the real drama was to be found in the shootout. Roisín Flinn thought she’d fired the winner for UCD with their final stroke, only to see it chalked off as she had moved prior to the whistle. But Jenny Kinch couldn’t take advantage for Hermes, as Grace O’Flanagan produced a slick stick save and Flinn – who shrugged off a jaw injury picked up earlier on – gained redemption as she stepped up again in sudden death, and this time the effort stood to give the Belfielders a 5-4 shootout victory. A similar fate befell Catholic Institute, as Kym Daly’s strike wasn’t enough to stop their tie with Lurgan going to strokes, and northerners eventually ran out 6-5 winners. Cork native Karen Hales grabbed the winner for Pembroke Wanderers as they defeated Knock 1-0, while French international Philippine Berly hit the only goal in a 1-0 win for Ulster Elks over Ards, who are currently lying second in Ulster. Rachel Mulligan claimed a hat-trick as Armagh routed Genesis 8-1, while her international colleague Nikki Symmons scored a cracker as Loreto recovered from conceding early on to Lucy Small and defeat Trinity 4-1. Elsewhere, Lisnagarvey defeated Bray 3-1, Randalstown’s tie with Cookstown was called off and Corinthians and Victorians clash was a late hit-off. In Munster, Ashton moved off the bottom of the women’s league as goals from Emma Harrington and Karen Stokes gave them a 2-0 win over Belvedere, while Bandon can also breathe easier this evening after defeating UL 3-2.