Captains lead by example

Women’s Div 1 Cork C of I 4 (Amy Roberts 2, Ali O’Connor, Jen Barry) UL 1 (Sorcha Carey) On a day when all the captains of the winning women’s teams scored twice, Amy Roberts’ efforts again stood out as C of I made it two wins from two against Limerick opposition.

She took her tally to five in two games, opening the scoring from a short corner before Ali O’Connor – her first since returning to the club after five seasons with UCC – and Jenifer Barry did likewise from set-pieces. UL captain Sorcha Carey pulled one back to get the Limerick students back in it, but Roberts then scored the goal of the weekend, charging at the UL defense right from the hit-off and going all the way through to score. Ashton 1 Cork Harlequins 5 (Yvonne O’Byrne 2, Cliodhna Sargent 2, Katie O’Neill) It wasn’t quite as easy as their first two games but the Quins juggernaut rolled on as they made it three from three with 22 goals in the ‘for’ column with this victory at Ashton, Short corners were also the foundation of this victory, with Yvonne O’Byrne deflecting in one and rebounding another for her seventh and eighth goals of the campaign, while Cliodhna Sargent also battered one in and tucked away a penalty stroke too. Quins’ fifth was a special one for Katie O’Neill, her first for the seniors, coming after she redirected Acacia Taylor’s reverse-stick cross past Niamh Stockil. Limerick 1 (Ciara Hayes) UCC 5 (Aine Curran 2, Olivia Roycroft, Rachel O’Hanlon) UCC’s tails are very much up after another comfortable win as they join Quins at the top of the table with a 100% record after three games. Aine Curran and Olivia Roycroft showed all of their Ireland U21 experience in netting twice each while fresher Rachel O’Hanlon grabbed her second of the season with Ciara Hayes replying for Limerick.

Men’s Div 1 Cork Harlequins 3 (David Lombard 2, Mark Black) Cork Harlequins B 2 (Paul Murray, Shane Ross) Few would have expected this to be the game of the weekend in the men’s league but that’s how it turned out as Quins seconds gave their firsts an almighty scare. David Lombard and Mark Black had the firsts cruising at 2-0 at the break but they lost John Hobbs and Darren Farrell to injury, putting them down to 10 men as they ran out of substitutes. That opened the door for the seconds, who had Munster U16 Jack Ryan in scintillating form between the posts,. to stage a comeback. Paul Murray halved the deficit before Shane Ross bundled the ball home after Murray’s initial effort had been cleared off the line. The 2nds passed up a gilt-edged chance with three minutes to go and were made to pay even more when Lombard scored the winner from a corner in the game’s last act. Cork Church of Ireland 3 (Stephen Sweetnam 3) UCC 1 (Andrew Gray) A carbon copy of last season’s fixture in a number of ways – a 3-1 win for C of I, and a Stephen Sweetnam hat-trick against his former team-mates. As had been the case last week, penalty stroke drama followed College around again as they conceded two of them here. Sweetnam converted the first in the opening period but that was cancelled out by Andrew Gray’s drag-flick, his first of the season. Sweetnam’s second goal from the flick spot restored C of I’s advantage and he completed his treble by more orthodox means, slinging in a flick to leave the students without a point after a tough start to the campaign.