Bandon pull away from drop zone

Women’s Division 1 Bandon 2 (Siobhan Sexton, Laura Crowley) Fermoy 0 Bandon learned their lessons from the 4-3 defeat to Fermoy seven days previous as they tightened things up and ground out a valuable victory in west Cork.

After a scoreless first half, Siobhan Sexton broke the deadlock with a short corner deflection past Ondine Roche before Laura Crowley, recently returned to hockey, picked up a rebound from play to give John Dennis’ charges some breathing space. It was a valuable three points for Bandon, who were without Ciara Harte, Vicky Burns and Saoirse O’Leary, as they are now unlikely to be dragged into a potential relegation battle. UCC 2 (Olivia Roycroft, Sarah Sullivan) Fermoy 0 Olivia Roycroft’s stunning strike lit up an otherwise workmanlike midweek victory for UCC, who dominated against Fermoy but struggled to find the net. The Ireland U21 hitwoman hit a peach of a rising reverse from a near-impossible angle on the baseline early on to put the students in front. Fermoy threatened on the break in the first half but found it increasingly difficult to get out of their own half, although College couldn’t punish them until Sarah Sullivan redirected Amy Kate Trevor’s disguised short corner sweep to the backboard midway through the half. It leaves UCC four points behind leaders Quins now having played the same number of games, while at the other end, Fermoy have caught up on their games in hand and have a slender three-point advantage over UL, who prop up the table. Irish Senior Cup Three Rock Rovers will meet Monkstown in an all-Leinster Irish Senior Cup semi-final while Pembroke play Banbridge on March 23 in the other tie. Both games will be played at Belfield. Ballymoney will meet holders UCD in the women’s semi-finals while the winner of the outstanding quarter-final tie between Ards and UCC will play Railway Union. Irish Senior Cup semi-final draw (March 23, Belfield): Men: Banbridge v Pembroke, Three Rock Rovers v Monkstown; Women: Railway Union v UCC/Ards, Ballymoney v UCD.