Carey ensures west is best

Galway ensured the Examiner Cup will reside outside Munster in 2011, after Elaine Carey’s golden goal gave them a 2-1 victory over a gallant Ashton side at Rosbrien yesterday. The westerners’ high press caused Ashton some early problems but the Cork side settled and forced a couple of short corners, one of which hit Claire Heskin on the goal-line, but Ciara O’Herlihy saw her penalty stroke saved by Emilie Molloy. Flurries of short corners couldn’t yield a goal for Galway, while at the other end, Karen Stokes saw an effort come back off the upright.

But it was Galway who broke the deadlock with 10 minutes to go, as Ireland U18 defender Freddie Timmins stepped up to rattle home a short corner. Ashton quickly upped the tempo and equalised with a copycat strike from Mary Claire Cummins. George Treacy’s side then had a lucky escape when Elaine Carey somehow hit a post with the goal unguarded after Lynsey Trainor’s deft approach work. However, Carey more than made up for that miss a couple of minutes into extra time, when she rattled home a reverse-stick shot via an Ashton stick, to send the westerners into raptures. Meanwhile, Catholic Institute claimed the Division 2 Cup thanks to a double from the experienced Rosie Pratt, with Bandon only managing a Ciara McCarthy strike in reply as the Rosbrien encounter finished 2-1 to the hosts. It’s Bruff and Mallow’s turn to step into the cup final pressure cooker this weekend at Ballincollig Community School, where they’ll clash in the Division 5 Cup showpiece. Bruff are coming off the back of another fantastic league campaign, which saw them go undefeated for the second season in the row, and they are now gunning for a double. Ballincollig proved a happy hunting ground for them last weekend in defeating Belvedere 3-1, with Catriona Casey putting them ahead before the hosts snaffled a quick equaliser. Bruff took time to re-settle but eventually put the result beyond doubt, first through Deirdre Fiztgerald before Jennifer Liston hit an equaliser-seeking Belvedere on the counter. Examiner Cup final, Rosbrien Ashton 1 (MC Cummins) Galway 2 (F Timmins, E Carey)(aet, gg) Division 2 Cup final, Rosbrien Catholic Institute 2 (R Pratt 2) Bandon 1 (Ciara McCarthy ) Division 5 Cup final (Saturday): Mallow v Bruff (Ballincollig CS, 1.15pm)