Hosking heroics sting C of I

Three Rock Rovers sprung a South African surprise on Cork Church of Ireland on Saturday, as Jody Hosking’s double helped them to a noteworthy 2-1 Irish Junior Cup round one win at Garryduff. In the only game of the men’s and women’s competitions to survive the weather, South African import Hosking — in Dublin for a couple of months during his native land’s off-season — did all the damage against the 2009 champions. Rovers, propelled by Garry Ringwood, Stephen Bredin and skipper Stephen Findlater, had the better of a scoreless first-half, but couldn’t take advantage of a yellow card for Clifford Sweetnam. C of I’s principal threats came from the pacy runs of of Philip Sweetnam and the accomplished former Irish Junior Cup-winning skipper Mark Holmes.

Neither side offered much at corner time, largely thanks to the absence of any noted drag-flickers and the excellence of goalkeepers Andrew Whitaker of C of I and Rovers’ Wendel Armstrong. Rovers did have one corner effort from Ross Varian chalked off for failing to find the backboard, but there was nothing wrong with Hosking’s classy opener. Ringwood and Luke McSharry engineered some space for the diminutive, pacy midfielder, who saw off two potential tacklers before rounding Whitaker and finishing on his reverse from a tight angle. And he doubled the Dubliners’ lead soon after, doing superbly to get enough elevation on a diving reverse to lift the ball over the logged Whitaker, who had saved McSharry’s initial short corner strike. C of I setup a tense last quarter when Mark Holmes cracked a rocket past the despairing dive of Armstrong. But Rovers ultimately won out in relative comfort, a Bobby MacAllister corner effort that flew over the bar the only time they threatened. Meanwhile, UCC were left to rue a golden opportunity to shock an off-colour Cork Harlequins, who progressed to the Peard Cup final with a 2-1 win at the Mardyke. College went behind early on to a David Eakins drag-flick, but subsequently composed themselves and came out on the right side of the possession and short corner statistics. From one of the latter, Andy Gray faked a drag-flick and switched left to younger brother Roger, who rifled home an equaliser.

But College went behind again as Paul Lombard’s ruthlessness produced a second Quins goal, and they had the chance to make it more comfortable on the final whistle, but Eakins saw his penalty stroke saved by Kieran Healy. Quins will now meet either Bandon or Cork C of I on St Stephen’s Day. Elsewhere, second-half goals from Ciara O’Herlihy, Caroline McCarthy and Emma Harrington helped Ashton pick up a comfortable 3-0 win at Belvedere to move into fourth place. Jane Bourke grabbed two goals on her return to Catholic Institute and Roisin Upton netted a hat-trick, as the Limerick girls hammered a youthful Cork C of I side 8-0 to extend their lead at the top of the Munster league to seven points, albeit with two extra games played. Men’s Irish Junior Cup Rd 1 Cork C of I 1 (M Holmes) Three Rock Rovers 2 (J Hosking 2); Peard Cup semi-final UCC 1 (R Gray) Cork Harlequins 2 (D Eakins, P Lombard); Final (December 26, venue TBC): Cork Harlequins vs Bandon/Cork C of I. Women’s Div 1 Bandon P UCC P; Belvedere 0 Ashton 3 (C O’Herlihy, C McCarthy, E Harrington); Catholic Institute 8 (R Upton 3, J Bourke 2, N Carroll, E Bromell, R Pratt) Cork C of I 0;