Cups of joy once more for C of I

Cork Church of Ireland’s domination of the Munster leagues and cups below senior level continued as they claimed both the Munster Junior Cup and Cork Cup at Farmer’s Cross yesterday. The seconds saw off rivals Cork Harlequins 3-1, before the thirds followed that up by just about holding off Bandon B 4-3 amid a couple of comebacks from the west Cork men. C of I largely had the upper hand against a Quins side who struggled to get any rhythm going, with only Brian Hayes Curtin, Sam Thompson and David Egner managing to generate any momentum.

More often than not though, they found Clifford Sweetnam to be an immovable force at the back for C of I, who were two goals to the good inside 15 minutes as Mark Holmes and Simon Wolfe pounced on loose balls during short corner second phases. With Ireland U16’s Alex Burns putting in a mature performance in centre mid, Wesley Brownlow put the result beyond doubt with a second-half drag-flick. Nonetheless, that preceded Quins’ best spell which saw them chalk up four short corners. But Julian Dale’s radar was a little off, and although Thompson cracked in a fine solo goal seven minutes from time, Quins never looked like staging a serious comeback. C of I’s women were also on a trophy hunt this weekend as their Irish Junior Cup campaign reached the semi-final stage. However, they were unfortunate to be the latest victim of a crushing Loreto defeat, a 6-1 loss at Beaufort coming against an outfit whose lowest winning margin on their march to the final has been by three goals. Meanwhile, UCC’s men routed Catholic Institute 8-0 in Limerick in Division 1, with braces for Shrew Power, Cian Kavanagh and Fionn O’Leary. They have C of I at home in their last league encounter, while Bandon face Quins. All sides will be looking for victories, given the big two’s title aspirations and the others’ ambitions of a wildcard playoff slot.  Bandon will be hoping to improve upon the 1-1 draw they recorded against C of I B in midweek. Elsewhere, UCC finally nailed down the women’s wildcard playoff slot with a 3-0 victory over C of I last week, ensuring they held off Ashton by two points. Men’s Div 1: Catholic Institute 0 UCC 8 (A Power 2, C Kavanagh 2, F O’Leary 2, R Gray, S O’Grady); Bandon 1 Cork C of I B 1. Munster Junior Cup final: Cork Harlequins B 1 (S Thompson) Cork C of I B 3 (M Holmes, S Wolfe, W Brownlow) Women’s Irish Junior Cup semi-finals: Pembroke Wanderers 3 (S Ryan 2, L Horgan) Hermes 2 (A Harte, D Ryan) (aet); Loreto 6 (S Scott 2, H Mulcahy 2, P Lyons, S Hall) Cork C of I 1. Women’s Div 1: Cork C of I 0 UCC 3.