Beamish and Sweetnam help Bandon and C of I march on

Melvin Beamish’s quick hands earned Bandon a famous 3-2 Irish  Junior Cup victory over Cork Harlequins on Saturday. Beamish, back in the sport after a number of years away, helped his side twice pull back a one-goal deficit, scoring two delightfully skilful efforts that sandwiched a strike from Ivan Bryan. Quins had a late chance to equalise, but Dan Hobbs — who had earlier notched both his side’s go-ahead goals — saw his penalty stroke repelled by Joe Fitzgibbon as Bandon held on to progress.

They were joined in the next round by Cork C of I, for whom Stephen Sweetnam, recently repatriated after a period in New Zealand, notching four in their 6-1 defeat of Mossley. Gary Wilkinson notched the first, before Sweetnam racked up a hat-trick of drag-flicks. Mossley – conquerors of UCC at this juncture last season –  replied but at this stage the game was far beyond their reach and Sweetnam and Wilkinson combined to setup Greg Chambers for a tap-in, before Trevor Dunne won a turnover, fed David Herbert and he laid Sweetnam’s fourth on a plate. Sweetnam went on to score again 24 hours later, as C of I’s first team dispatched Catholic Institute 5-1 in Limerick to reach the Peard Cup final. Phil Smith and David Harvey dispatched penalty strokes while Richard Lynch added another and the fifth was diverted past Tristan Murphy by an Insta defender’s stick. They will face the winners of next Sunday’s tie between UCC and Cork Harlequins. Elsewhere,  UCC blew a great chance to make it three Munster teams in round two of the IJC, surrendering a 3-1 lead away to Kilkeel before going down 4-3 to the Co Down outfit, a sequence which brought back bad memories of a similar collapse against Belfast Harlequins in the 2009 Irish Hockey Trophy. Cian Kavanagh had one drag-flick well saved before finally opening the scoring with a similar effort. Kavanagh’s aerial was then taken down brilliantly by Shrew Power, fielding the dropping ball one-handed underneath his left arm without breaking stride, and he raced to the endline and drew the goalkeeper to give Stephen Murphy the easiest of finishes. A fine flicked effort got Kilkeel back in it but Power then picked up the ball in space in midfield and used his pace to burn off two defenders before flicking across the onrushing keeper just before half-time. But instead of going for the jugular to ensure a famous win, the students went to sleep in the second half and allowed themselves be reined in by two goals in as many minutes as Kilkeel’s attack came to life, notching a scrappy fourth as they made the most of their momentum. There was also little in the way of luck for former Quins and UCC man David Gash, who found the net for Fingal against Suttonians but saw his side crash out after a 4-2 defeat. A red card for dissent to Kilkeel’s Finlay saw the game open up in the final minutes, Aiman Asyraf keeping College in it with a string of fine saves but at the other end, the visitors couldn’t make a couple of short corner opportunities count to force extra-time. Meanwhile, there was further joy for C of I and Bandon as their women’s sides also progressed in the Irish Junior Cup.

Emma Dobson scored a stunning solo strike off a turnover she forced herself to give C of I a backs-to-the-wall 2-1 win over Lurgan. Cathy Walsh’s corner goal had been cancelled out by the visitors but early in the second half, Dobson collected the ball on the 25 and saw off a couple of tacklers to get to the endline before flicking home from the tightest of angles. Free-scoring Ciara McCarthy was the hero for Bandon, hitting the decisive goal in their 3-2 home win over Belfast Harlequins after Ruth Murphy and Liz Buttimer had done the earlier damage. Maria Collins did likewise as Cork Harlequins notched a fabulous 2-1 success at Glenanne, Jane Chapple grabbing their other goal, while Catholic Institute also successfully raided Dublin but had to do things the hard way against Old Alex, prevailing on penalty strokes following a 3-3 stalemate. No such luck for UCC though, as they were beaten 3-0 at Corinthian, while Ashton were edged out by the odd goal in three as Trinity left Cork with the spoils. There was a huge upset at Hillsborough, where holders Lisnagarvey fell at home to Pembroke Wanderers, Eimear McCarthy bagging the only goal of the game. Locally, UL frustrated Catholic Institute for long periods before their resistance eventually broke in the second half, as Eimear Cregan (2), Naomi Carroll and Clare Sullivan helped the champions notch a 4-0 success. Men’s Irish Junior Cup Rd 1: Suttonians 4 (J Ryan 2, S Fallon, D Reamsbottom) Fingal 2 (D Gash, D Wheeler); Annadale 4 (I Hamilton 2, R Maybin, J Edgar) Monkstown 3 (Z Dutton, A Rooney, L Cole); Newry 6 (K McWilliams 2, P McCullough, J Greer, J Gregg, S McAfferty) Clontarf 1; Instonians 3 Pembroke Wanderers 4; Bangor 2 (J McAfee, R Coughlin) NICS 1; Dublin University 0 Corinthian 12 (I Stewart 4, C Hennessy 3, S Reid, A Malcolm, R McKenna, AN Other 2); South Antrim 2 (P Maguire, M Gray) Three Rock Rovers 3 (J Dalrymple, A Maclean, E Buttenshaw) (aet, golden goal); Cookstown 6 (R Miller 3, M Wilson, R Nelson, M Costello) North Down 0; Cork C of I 6 (S Sweetnam 4, G Wilkinson, G Chambers) Mossley 1; Kilkeel 4 UCC 3 (C Kavanagh, A Power, S Murphy); Lisnagarvey 2 Belfast Harlequins 0; UCD 3 Banbridge 6; Bandon 3 (M Beamish 2, I Byran) Cork Harlequins 2 (D Hobbs 2); Raphoe 4 (J Long 2, W Wacuope 2) Railway Union 1. Peard Cup semi-final: Catholic Institute 1 Cork C of I 5 (P Smith, S Sweetnam, R Lynch, D Harvey, own goal); Women’s Irish Junior Cup Rd 1: Old Alex 3 Catholic Institute 3 (aet, Catholic Institute win 3-2 on penalty strokes); Ashton 1 Trinity 2 (S Lochrin, H Meredith); Loreto 8 (P Lyons 2, S Scott, W Byrne, C Barker, E Smith, S Doran, C Tipping) Portadown 1 (A Reid); Lisnagarvey 0 Pembroke Wanderers 1 (E McCarthy); Queens University 1 Hermes 3 (V Walsh 2, S Hoban Lagan); Genesis 2 (A O’Loughlin, A Ryan) Dromore 2 (A Martin, N Murray) (aet, Dromore win 3-2 on penalty strokes); Ulster Elks 2 (S Lee, S Galbraith) Randalstown 3 (aet, golden goal); Armagh 1 Pegasus 1 (aet, Pegasus win 3-2 on penalty strokes); Corinthian 3 (S Cory, R Dooly, E Caulwell) UCC 0; Bandon 3 (R Murphy, L Buttimer, C McCarthy) Belfast Harlequins 2 (J Grimes, K Smiley); Cork C of I 2 (C Walsh, E Dobson) Lurgan 1 (E Mullen); Glenanne 1 (K O’Connor) Cork Harlequins 2 (J Chapple, M Collins); Munster Div 1: UL 0 Catholic Institute 4 (E Cregan 2, N Carroll, C Sullivan).