Crescent keep Mount Mercy waiting

Limerick hockey has gone from strength to strength in recent years, and Crescent College Comprehensive provided further proof of the Treaty city’s new prominence with a deserved 3-1 Munster Senior Schoolgirls Cup final win over Mount Mercy yesterday. With Catholic Institute on course to end Cork Harlequins’ 15-year monopolisation of the Munster women’s league title and Limerick HC emerging as one of the country’s most progressive young clubs, women’s hockey is certainly flying in the Treaty city.

Ollie O’Connor’s Crescent are certainly doing their bit too, deservedly notching back-to-back wins in this competition. For Mount Mercy the result is yet another bitter pill to have to swallow; Darren Collins’ girls have now fallen at the final hurdle in four of the past five seasons, with three of those defeats coming at the hands of Crescent. Having won a four-in-a-row in the 2000s though, they have appeared in eight of the past nine finals and will surely be back again before long. Crescent got off to a flyer yesterday, building pressure via a couple of penalty corners before Karen McGrath broke the deadlock in the 16th minute, pivoting in the circle and guiding the ball into the bottom corner after Tara Lyons and Ciara O’Sullivan had engineered the opening. Very little was getting through Lyons and Irish youth Olympian Roisin Upton as they controlled midfield, while Jane Dickinson and Aileen McMahon caused havoic down the right. The one major chance which fell Mount Mercy’s way saw Ciara Mullane’s long ball arrive all the way through to Allyson Moore, whose pace took her past the last defender, but her finish was off-target as goalkeeper Jessica Liddy cut off the angle. It remained 1-0 at the break with Crescent probably ruing not extending their lead, but they then caught Mount Mercy cold at the start of the second half, O’Sullivan crashing the ball home after Upton’s surge had drawn goalkeeper Susan Peters away from her line. Upton then saw a drag-flick whistle past the top left corner, but Mullane –  who along with skipper Emily O’Leary, Moore and Peters, shone for the Model Farm Road school – gave Mount Mercy a lifeline with 10 minutes to go, sweeping powerfully to the backboard off their sole short corner to set up a grandstand finale. That coincided with Mount Mercy’s best period of the match, with Moore the catalyst. She darted inside from the right after collecting another long pass but saw her reverse-sweep saved by Liddy, who also did well to thwart Elisa Buckley after Moore had again engineered the opening. But Crescent know a thing or two about handling pressure, having secured last year’s trophy in extra-time. They calmly engineered their sixth short corner of the contest four minutes later – after Mount Mercy’s Kate O’Herlihy saw yellow for taking down an aerial above head-height – and Upton stepped up to find the bottom corner of the goal with a drag-flick. At the final whistle, their ecstatic supporters flooded onto the pitch, forming a circle around their heroines and each raising an item of footwear to the skies. “Shoes off for the champions” went the refrain – and Limerick hockey is  certainly continuing to put its best foot forward. MOUNT MERCY: S Peters (GK); C Mullane,  G Kelleher, A Oakes, K O’Herlihy, E O’Leary (capt), C O’Connell, S Browner, A O’Donovan, E Buckley, J Murphy, A Moore, J Cremin, S Wrixon, E Coleman. CRESCENT: J Liddy (GK), O Hickey, K Fitzgerald, L O’Kane, J Dickinson, R Upton, T Lyons, E McManus (capt), K McGrath, A McMahon, C O’Sullivan, L Barrett, E Burke, A Ahern, C Moloney, H Ryan. Umpires: L Clifford and M Coombes. **Meanwhile, Villiers yesterday advanced to the last four of the Munster Senior Schoolboys Cup, needing a golden goal to see off a resolute Newtown School 2-1. David Cardy’s opening effort for Villiers was cancelled out by the Waterford side’s Sam Butler, but Munster U18 forward Nathan Eacrett won it in extra-time from a short corner. Munster Senior Schoolboys Cup quarter-final Villiers 2 (David Cardy, Nathan Eacrett) Newtown 1 (Sam Butler) (aet, golden goal). **UCC’s surge up the men’s Division One table continued on Tuesday night as they marked the official opening of their new Mardyke water-base pitch with a 4-0 defeat of Cork Harlequins B. A noteworthy cameo from Nigel Bateman, who scored his first top-level goal for the club and provided an assist, came after Fionn O’Leary netted his fifth goal in two games to open the scoring. Bateman produced a sweet finish to the bottom right corner for 2-0 after O’Leary’s initial shot had been deflected, before Peter Catchpole slammed home the pick of the bunch, a reverse-stick finish after Andy Gray’s aerial had played in brother Roger. The latter, who missed a chunk of the game after sustaining a facial cut, then had the final say. Bateman reacted first to the loose ball after spurning a chance and fed Gray, who reversed low to the backboard. Men’s Div 1 UCC 4 (F O’Leary, N Bateman, P Catchpole, R Gray) Cork Harlequins B 0