C of I cruise to title win

Cork C of I retained the Munster men’s league in some style at Garryduff this evening, seeing off Cork Harlequins B 6-0. The champions had plenty of motivation to get last weekend’s IHL horrorshow at Three Rock out of their system, but found Quins B difficult to break down inside the opening quarter. But the floodgates opened once John Jermyn converted a 16th-minute penalty corner. He added a stunning roofed effort from the top of the circle, with David Hobbs claiming a similar effort to put the game beyond reach.

Jonny Bruton scored either side of the break to add to his midweek goal for Ireland A, before Jermyn completed his hat-trick with another corner in the second half to ensure C of I recorded an unbeaten domestic campaign. Meanwhile, Ireland’s finishing touch deserted them again as England claimed a 1-0 win in the senior women’s international at Belfield this afternoon. Jenny Hall touched in the only goal of the game in the 14th minute, after the Irish defence had failed to deal with a crash ball, while Becky Duggan and her defence kept the Irish at bay at the other end. Cathy McKean, Roisin Flinn, Eimear Cregan and schoolgirl Megan Frazer all put in decent shifts at the colface up front while Emma Clarke controlled midfield in a game Ireland bossed for a number of periods. However, none could find the all-important goal, with debutant  Emma Smyth going closest later on when her reverse fizzed just wide. Elsewhere, there was a glut of goals as the EuroHockey League last 16 got underway in Hamburg today, with champions Uhlenhorster UHC surviving a scare to advance 3-2 at the expense of Dusseldorf. Germany’s representation in the last eight took a further knock as Der Club an Der Alster lost out to Spain’s Club Egara 4-2, as tournament top scorer Guillermo Schikendantz’s hat-trick took his tally to nine in three games. Meanwhile, Dutch legend Teun De Nooijer was at the heartbreak of HC Bloemendaal’s 3-1 win over England’s Cannock HC, a match umpired by Ireland’s Geoff Conn. De Nooijer scored one and set up another for Bloemendaal, who were without Australian wizard Jamie Dwyer as he is awaiting the birth of his first child.

While Cannock were underdogs, they will be gutted to be out of contention having missed out on qualification for next year’s EHL – Reading, who have Ulster’s Ireland A international Chris Cargo in their ranks, will take part instead. There was better luck for English hockey elsehwere, as East Grinstead’s former GB star Danny Hall bagged a winner with less than 40 seconds to go to see off France’s St Germain 3-2, having been a goal down with seven minutes remaining. Three Rock Rovers are the last side to go into action in the last 16 when they face Belgians KHC Leuven, who boast Spanish superstar Jordi Fabregas in their side, at 4pm Irish time.