UCD bridge 58-year gap as Pembroke hit Cookstown for six

UCD completed a fairytale Irish Senior Cup run in some style at Belfield yesterday, trouncing Pegasus 4-1 to end a 58-year wait for their second title. Mary Logue’s students had signposted their defensive and mental solidarity with penalty-strokes victories over Hermes and Loreto in earlier rounds. But few expected a side who couldn’t make the top four in Leinster this season to topple a Pegs side who usually reserve their best performances for this competition and were seeking a third consecutive title. UCD were buoyed by the return of skipper Lisa Jacob after a six-week injury layoff, but it was her Irish international forward colleague Roisin Flinn who put them in front on 16 mintues, batting home after Rachel Burke had got to the endline.

Jacob was nonetheless influential in leading a high press that seriously disrupted Pegs’ long-ball game, and their second goal arrived two minutes later via a Holly Jenkinson corner strike. Grace Irwin’s tap-in after the break gave Pegs hope, only for Flinn to restore the two-goal cushion from a tight angle after Jenkinson’s initial strike had wreaked havoc. And Rosie Carrigan provide the coup de grâce on 52 minutes, flipping the ball past Arlene Boyles before unleashing a rocket past Sharon Moffett. Meanwhile, Pembroke Wanderers shrugged off the Vaughan Erasmus eligibility scandal and their humbling at the hands of C of I in the Irish Junior Cup final to trounce Cookstown 6-0 in a farcical men’s decider. It was the most comprehensive final victory in the open era of the competition; not since the now-defunct Royal Hibernians destroyed Queen’s University 9-0 in 1921 has a final been so one-sided. The suspicion that Cookstown aren’t the same force away from their Coolnafranky base was ruthlessly confirmed. They certainly missed the influence of long-term knee injury victim Thomas Hutchinson, but their young side seemed strangled by nerves. Having already annexed the Leinster league title and the EuroHockey Trophy, Pembroke must now be hot favourites to also take the IHL next weekend as they continue to play a scintillating brand of hockey.

Gordon Elliott snapped up the game’s first chance in the 19th minute, slotting home Paddy Conlon’s centre, before brouther Maurice doubled the advantage, courtesy of a sublime reverse trap that outfoxed keeper Iain Hughes and Ian Hutchinson and left him with a simple tap-in. Despite not forcing a single corner all game, Pembroke continued to dominate after surviving a scare at the other end when Colin Donaldson’s lob landed just the wrong side of the crossbar. Gordon Elliott’s tidy finish made it 3-0 just after the break before Conlon dived in for the fourth after a surging run from the irrepressible Justin Sherriff, who made it five with a stunning volley from the top of the circle. Conlon squared for Alan Southern to make it six – incredibly, his 56th of the season – late on as Pembroke sailed to a place in next season’s EuroHockey League.