O’Halloran is Railway’s IHL hero again

Julia O’Halloran made the crucial Irish Hockey League final intervention for Railway Union for the second year running as they saw off Loreto on sudden death penalties on a topsy-turvy finals day at Grange Road. Last year, O’Halloran broke Loreto hearts with the only goal of a tense finale. This time, the crucial penalty one-on-one fell to the Cork woman and she dummied Jessie Elliott in the Loreto goal before rolling the ball home. That came after a 3-3 draw that had just about everything. Railway lost totem Emer Lucey to injury early on when she was hit by team-mate Kate Dillon’s drag-flick but Alex Speers volleyed in a broken down corner to put them in front.

Cathy McKean touched home Hannath Matthews’ slap to level it for Loreto before Nikki Symmons converted another intricate set-piece to move the Beaufort girls — who had beaten Ards 2-1 in the semi-finals on Saturday — in front. Railway, who had beat UCD in a shootout the day before, levelled again when Sinead Dooley got a scoring touch to a long corner before Kate Lloyd pulled out a cracker of a solo goal, finished on her backhand, to turn the tide Railway’s way again. But Loreto’s set-piece brilliance came to the fore again as Symmons levelled it 12 minutes from time, and although her side had the better of silver goal extra-time, they couldn’t make a breakthrough. The shootout was a tense affair with Railway given a penalty goal that was then overturned while Loreto were given one that stuck. It finished 3-3 but McKean was successfully shepherded wide and missed for Loreto before O’Halloran finished the job for Railway. As Railway also won the Irish Senior Cup, both sides will be bound for Europe next season. The same applies on the men’s side which will be some consolation to Banbridge after they lost 4-3 to Monkstown in another titanic final tussle. Having waited 99 years for an Irish Senior Cup success that came in March, the ‘Town also have the Irish Hockey League crown to their name now as Graham Shaw’s influence since his move from Glenanne as player/coach coming to bear. They defeated a nuggety Lisnagarvey side 2-1 in Saturday’s semi-final while Bann surprisingly had things all their own way in a 6-1 rout of Ulster rivals Cookstown. It was most observers’ dream final and it didn’t disappoint. Amazingly, Bann were ahead through Bruce McCandless after just seven seconds but Monkstown levelled with an equally bizarre strike. Pressing Banbridge deep into their own circle, Gareth Watkins took an opportunist gamble and dived to intercept Stephen Forbes’ pass and his touch diverted the ball into Gareth Lennox’s goal. Andrew Ward’s poacher instincts took over as he deflected in Davy Carson’s flat reverse but Bann levelled through Simon Magowan. But Ward put a fitting end to a breathless first half as an immaculate fist touch gave him the room to thrash through Lennox’s defences for 3-2. The second half was a calmer affair as Monkstown exerted some control. Carson calmly flicked corner rebound to the roof of the net midway through the half to give them breathing room, rending Stephen Dowds’ rocket of a drag-flick in the final minute a consolation. Irish Hockey League awards Women’s Player of the Tournament: Emma Smyth (Railway Union); Goalkeeper of the Tournament: Grace O’Flanagan (Railway Union); Top Scorer: Anna O’Flanagan (UCD). Men’s Player of the Tournament: Peter Brown (Banbridge); Goalkeeper of the Tournament: David Fitzgerald (Monkstown); Top Scorer: Alan Sothern (Pembroke Wanderers) Overall Player of the Tournament: Emma Smyth (Railway Union). Men’s semi-finals: Monkstown 2 (K Good, D Carson) Lisnagarvey 1 (T Cockram); Banbridge 6 (S Caruth 2, S Dowds, B McCandless, D Ward, H McShane) Cookstown 1 (G Allen). Women’s semi-finals: Railway Union 1 (J O’Halloran) UCD 1 (E Beatty) (aet, Railway won 5-4 on penalties); Loreto 2 (C O’Kelly, N Keegan) Ards 1 (C Brown) (after silver goal extra time). Men’s final: Banbridge 3 (B McCandless, S Magowan, S Dowds) Monkstown 4 (A Ward 2, G Watkins, D Carson). Women’s final: Railway Union 3 (A Speers, S Dooley, K Lloyd) Loreto 3 (N Symmons 2, C McKean) (aet, Railway win 5-4 on sudden death penalties)