Bandon begin IJC journey

Bandon B finally get to make their way to Banbridge this weekend for their rearranged opening Irish Junior Cup tie (Havelock Park, 2.30pm), wondering where their form lies after last weekend’s defeat to Cork Harlequins B. The west Cork side ended up on the wrong end of a 6-2 scoreline, despite at times making light of the divisional gap between the sides in their Munster Junior Cup tie. Quins started well in the wet and windy conditions at Bandon Grammar and took the lead after 10 minutes through a neat Luke Daunt deflection from a Mark Lombard ball into the circle. Bandon settled well then and took the game to Quins, who had to rely on some strong defending by Peter Carroll and Rob Morris in the centre to keep the lead. They then made it 2-0 after an excellent advantage by umpire Malcolm Coombes allowed Tom Cotter to steal in and score from close range.

Bandon’s heads didn’t go down however and they pulled a goal back through a fine  Aidan Walsh strike but Quins made it 3-1 just before the break when Darren Farrell scored with a reverse stick shot. Bandon came out strongly in the second half, with Nigel Martin being particularly effective in midfield, and after some pressure Jason Rice converted a hotly disputed short corner to put the hosts back in touch. This seemed to rattle Quins and a spell of indiscipline lead to two yellow cards in the space of 15 minutes. The loss of players seemed to wake Quins up though and they finally began to play. Darren Farrell scored his second and Quins’ fourth with another reverse stick strike, this time from a short corner and Eddie Gash followed up with a brace of his own, one from a short corner and the last after neat work down the right by Dickie Barrett released Tom Cotter in the circle who squared for Gash to convert through keeper Joe Fitzgibbon’s legs. Bandon head for Bann tomorrow knowing another long trip north – to meet Bangor – is on the cards for the winner. Quins are already safely through to the quarter-finals, where they will host C of I’s conquerors Three Rock Rovers. Elsewhere in that competition, UCC B let a promising start slip as they eventually succumbed 6-1 at home to Cork Harlequins C. College began brightly and when Andy Gray’s drag-flick hit a Bandon player on the line from the hosts’ firsts short, Gray stepped up to convert the subsequent stroke. Quins nonetheless always looked enterprising, with Wes Bateman, Ross Bateman, Stuart Egner and Shane Ross to the fore as they eventually showed their class with two quickfire goals before the break, before the floodgates opened thereafter despite some brave defence from Conor Cadogan in particular. Cork C of I beat C of I C 4-1 in the weekend’s other tie. Last weekend signalled the end of Munster’s interest in the women’s Irish Junior Cup, as UCC bowed out with a 1-0 defeat to varsity rivals UCD at Belfield. For the second year running, the students lasted longest of the southern province’s representatives, and they had a goal chalked off inside five minutes amid a whirlwind start. UCD upped their game however and grabbed a winner through Julie Steen, while also seeing a strike of their own disallowed due to an ill-advised attempt to by a player to convert a goal-bound short from above her head near an unguarded UCC net.