C of I claim pre-season silverware

Cork Church of Ireland retained the David Kidney Memorial Trophy yesterday thanks to a 2-1 win over Bandon at Bandon Grammar School. The Garryduff outfit have dominated the U21 tournament in recent years, but were made to fight hard for their win by the hosts, who found Conor Shemeld in imperious form between the sticks for C of I.

Roger Gray gave C of I a first-half lead from the penalty spot after Paul O’Leary’s goalbound shot was illegally blocked by a Bandon defender. However, the west Cork side dominated the second half, and found an equaliser with 15 minutes to go, before Mark Welch’s late strike sealed victory for C of I. Both sides had earlier recorded convincing wins over Cork Harlequins, who were without chief marksman Dan Hobbs and later lost Darren Farrell to injury, with Bandon running out 3-1 winners while C of I recorded a facile 8-0 victory. Elsewhere, C of I also claimed the Treaty Cup yesterday. They and Quins had both recorded successes over Limerick, while Quins had defeated Catholic Institute 2-0 where C of I could only managed a scoreless draw. But C of I beat Quins 1-0 to take the title by a point. At the women’s pre-season tournament in Garryduff, Railway Union took the spoils thanks to a straightforward 4-0 dismissal of Trinity yesterday, while C of I went down 2-0 to Galway.