Drive for five ends happily for Ireland

Ireland claimed the fourth Celtic Cup of Paul Revington’s reign — which comes to an end this week — but not before they nearly blew it against tournament whipping boys Wales, drawing 1-1 at Lisnagarvey this afternoon. Ireland, needing just a point to annex their fifth title in a row, had all the chances but just one goal from Banbridge’s Stephen Dowds – his first at this level – to show for it when they were caught high and mugged by Joe Naughalty with three minutes to go.

Cookstown netminder Ian Hughes, making his Irish debut, then saved his side’s blushes when smothering Liam Brignall with the goal gaping in the final minutes, the draw doing just enough to take the title for a mid-strength Ireland side. Revington will depart this week – following midweek friendlies against South Africa and Belgium – but leaves behind a side in rude health and with far greater depth. Despite using the Celtic Cup as a regular testing ground, Ireland always came out on top. On Saturday, Davy Carson’s hat-trick and a three-goal frenzy in 90 seconds had helped Ireland win out 6-3 in an eventful game against Scotland, who suffered an even more bizarre defeat to South Africa yesterday. Having found themselves 4-0 down inside 18 minutes against the Olympics-bound Africans, they eventually went down 6-5 with Dan Coultas slotting home a hat-trick of drag-flicks and a pair of penalty strokes. But former Corinthians player Andrew Cronje netted the winner from the flick spot for South Africa, who finished second behind Ireland. It was a fruitful weekends for some of Munster’s Irish representatives too; Jason Lynch netted against South Africa and Wales, while David Hobbs returned to the senior fold, coming off the bench against the Africans and starting the Welsh game. John Jermyn just has two goals to go to overhaul Stephen Butler for the all-time record, though he will rue missing an open goal from close range in the Scottish clash. Meanwhile, Ireland’s women’s Celtic Cup hoodoo continued as another defeat to Scotland sent their hopes tumbling. Although ranked higher, the Irish girls have always found Scotland to be doughty opponents, and a late goal from Chloe Watkins wasn’t enough as they went down 2-1 on Friday night. The Scots wrapped up the title with a 3-0 defeat of Wales on Saturday but Ireland ended their campaign on a high, taking the silver medal and notching the first victory of Denis Pritchard’s reign with a 3-1 success against the Welsh today. Alex Speers profited from excellent build-up play by Aine Connery and Emma Clarke to bat in the first in jig-time, and Nikki Symmons drove through the Welsh netminder’s defences before Anna O’Flanagan’s solo goal sealed it late on to quell a Welsh revival. Men’s Celtic Cup, Lisnagarvey Ireland 4 (C Cargo, J Jermyn, T Cockram, J Lynch) South Africa 2 (L Louw, L Norris-Jones) Scotland 3 (K Bain 2, D Forsyth) Wales 0 Ireland 6 (D Carson 3, C Harte, J Lynch, K Carroll) Scotland 3 (K Bain, D Coultas, G McIntyre) South Africa 5 (J Hykes 2, A Cronje, J Reid-Ross, W Paton) Wales 0 South Africa 6 (I Haley 2, L Norris-Jones 2, A Cronje, T McDade) Scotland 5 (D Coultas 5) Ireland 1 (S Dowds) Wales 1 (J Naughalty); Final standings: 1 Ireland 7pts (+5), 2 South Africa 6 (+4), 3 Scotland 3 (-1), 4 Wales 1 (-8). Women’s Celtic Cup, Lisnagarvey Ireland 1 (C Watkins) Scotland 2 (A Bell, A Wylie) Scotland 3 (H Cram, S Judge, N Kidd) Wales 0 Ireland 3 (A Speers, N Symmons, A O’Flanagan) Wales 1 (P Richards) Final standings: 1 Scotland 6pts (+4), 2 Ireland 3 (+1), 3 Wales 0 (-5).