C of I complete clean sweep

The Garryduff trophy cabinet is bulging under some strain today after Cork Church of Ireland amazingly claimed victory in four men’s cup finals in less than 48 hours. Remarkably, the Rochestown outfit have now annexed all six of the cup competitions they have entered this term; that Cork Harlequins were the vanquished finalists in five of those once again pinpoints the duo’s dominance of men’s hockey in Munster. With the Munster Senior and Barber cups already secured, C of I added the Munster Junior Cup on Friday night, their B side recovering from conceding an early Mark Lombard goal to prevail 5-1 against Quins B, who were left to rue three second-half yellow cards. Philip Sweetnam and Gary Wilkinson grabbed a brace each for the winners, with Stuart Miller netting the other. A top-notch first-half performance helped C of I’s firsts overcome Quins 2-0 in the Peard Cup final at Farmer’s Cross, exacting some revenge for their 5-4 league defeat to the same opposition a week previously. John Jermyn squeezed a low drag-flick past Chris Daunt for the opener, a lead which was doubled seven minutes later when Quins failed to clear a corner and Philip Sweetnam redirected a cross to the net. C of I sat back thereafter, and though Quins forced seven second-half corners, they found the visitors’ netminder Billy Lynch in inspired form. Yesterday, the club added the Cork and McLean cups to their haul, again at Quins’ expense; they won the battle of the third-string sides 4-0 in the former, before notching a golden goal, 2-1 win in the latter, David Whitaker claiming the vital strike two minutes into the second period of extra time. Meanwhile, Catholic Institute’s hopes of completing a perfect women’s league season were dashed by Cork Harlequins, who took advantage of the visitors’ nerves to grind out a 0-0 draw. Institute had already taken Quins’ crown — held by the Cork side for 15 years — last weekend but entered this game looking for a 14th win to complete a 100% record, only for the free-scoring side’s goals to suddenly dry up. The point gained for Quins has now put them in pole position to take second place and an automatic Irish Hockey League qualification spot. UCC, 4-0 victors at UL on Saturday, have 30 points but have finished their campaign, while Quins have two games to go and need five points to overhaul the students. Quins face C of I at home next up with a tricky away game in Bandon to follow, with the west Cork girls still not mathematically out of the race for third place, which carries with it an IHL wildcard play-off berth. Elisa Buckley gave C of I a shock lead against Bandon but the hosts struck back via a Ruth Kingston switched corner, before Emma Peters created an opening for Roisin O’Mahony to lash home from the top of the circle. Ciara McCarthy’s short corner rebound completed a 3-1 win. Bandon then scraped a 1-0 win via a Sarah Sullivan strike against Belvedere yesterday, an important result in that it keeps them breathing down Quins and UCC’s necks, while it also sealed Belvedere’s relegation fate. Sullivan directed Amy Hosford’s cross home just before half time but Bandon couldn’t add to their lead, and there was late drama when Bandon goalkeeper Claire Hayes was yellow-carded for tackling outside the circle three minutes from time. That prompted Rachelle Nyhan to take over the pads for a nervy final few minutes, but Belvedere couldn’t get the goal they needed to leapfrog UL. In Leinster, Glenanne saw off Monkstown 3-2, Jonathan Kane netting the winner a minute from time, to take the Leinster men’s league title having blown chances to do so in previous games against YMCA and Corinthian. Hermes are the women’s champions despite a 4-2 loss to UCD; they finished level on points with Loreto, but claimed overall honours via a far superior goal difference. Elsewhere, Lisnagarvey defeated Banbridge 3-1 to annex the men’s Irish Junior Cup but their ladies side were agonisingly beaten on penalty strokes by Railway Union following a 3-3 draw in the women’s decider, denying the Co Down side a remarkable double. Peard Cup final Cork C of I 2 (J Jermyn, P Sweetnam) Cork Harlequins 0; Munster Junior Cup final Cork Harlequins B 1 (M Lombard) Cork C of I B 5 (S Miller, G Wilkinson 2, P Sweetnam 2); Cork Cup final: Cork C of I C 4 Cork Harlequins C 0; McLean Cup final: Cork C of I E 2 Cork Harlequins D 1 (aet, gg); Irish Junior Cup final Lisnagarvey 3 (M Murphy, S Johnston, A Fallis) Banbridge 1 (I Livingstone); Women’s Div 1 Cork Harlequins 0 Catholic Institute 0; UL 0 UCC 4; Bandon 3 (R Kingston, R O’Mahony, C McCarthy) Cork C of I 1 (E Buckley); Belvedere 0 Bandon 1 (S Sullivan); Munster Div 3 Cup final: Dungarvan 1 Limerick 2; Div 4 Cup final: Limerick 6 Bandon 2; Div 6 Cup final: Cashel/New Inn 4 Dungarvan 0.