Hat-trick hero Hobbs offers timely reminder

David Hobbs offered Irish coach Paul Revington a timely reminder of his talents with a hat-trick and a man-of-the-match performance as Cork Church of Ireland crushed Bandon 6-1 in the Munster Senior Cup final on Saturday. Hobbs has 143 caps to his name yet has not featured in green for much of the past 12 months, but he picked a nice platform to make a point. The west Cork side, making their second final appearance in three seasons, had high hopes of a shock given C of I have been out of sorts recently, but there was little evidence of that in the city side’s opening goal inside two minutes. John Jermyn’s 60-yard overhead pass was controlled on the run by Hobbs, who cut inside and flashed an unstoppable reverse-stick strike past Ian Hosford in the Bandon goal after just 90 seconds.

Bandon looked to have a great chance to equalise soon after when Ali Smith’s aggressive pressing paid off when he mugged Phil Smith near halfway and sped off towards goal. But with Billy Lynch getting his angles right and Smith without support, the Ireland A forward was shepherded wide and out of danger by Clinton Sweetnam before he could get his shot away. That was as good as it got for Bandon, for whom Mark Deane put in a terrific stint at the back, but almost always in a firefighting capacity as C of I threatened to run riot. Jermyn put the result beyond doubt with two trademark drag-flicks on 18 and 23 minutes, before a neat no-look pass from Richard Lynch played in Stephen Sweetnam to chip home the fourth before the break. Bandon’s best chance fell to Scott Sullivan, who bashed Phil Burns’ cross goalwards but Lynch was out to smother well. It was more of the same in the second half, with Deane’s timely interception preventing a certain goal for Philip Sweetnam after Nigel Buttimer had taken Hosford out of the equation. Bandon then lost Sullivan to a yellow card for taking out Andrew Daunt, the Ireland U18 man seemingly the straw that broke the camel’s back following a serious of rash challenges from both sides in a messy third quarter. Hobbs then nabbed his second from the injector’s spot on 57 minutes, before Bandon finally got some joy when Andrew Scannell – who later went off with a knee injury – found the bottom corner with a drag-flick. But Philip Sweetnam found Hobbs in the D late on and he eliminated Hosford before planting the ball past the covering defenders to Hobbs complete his hat-trick and cap a fine overall performance. A fine weekend for men’s hockey in C of I was completed by their sixth team, who blew Quins E away in the second half to claim a 6-1 Barber Cup win. Quins held C of I to a 1-0 half-time lead but the floodgates opened in the second period with Simon Wolfe and Philip Brownlow claiming a brace each while Ben O’Mahony and Ed Hayes also found the target, In the sole men’s Division 1 league game, Cork Harlequins B pulled off their best result of the season to date in defeating UCC 3-2, a shock which the students will be hoping serves as a necessary reminder against complacency ahead of their Irish Trophy final assignment against South Antrim on Sunday. College were inconsolable at the final whistle at Farmer’s Cross but will know they got what they deserved from a poor overall performance. Luke Daunt gave Quins the go-ahead goal before Darren Farrell’s drag-flick gave them a two-goal cushion. Peter Catchpole forced home a corner to give College hope before half time, but a couple of minutes into the second period, Adam Daunt Sheehan tapped in to finish off a fine team move. Roger Gray saw yellow for College but brother Andy’s reverse-stick strike brought the deficit down to the minimum, however that was as good as it got for the students who suffered a fifth league loss of the campaign. Munster Senior Cup final Bandon 1 (A Scannell) Cork C of I 6 (D Hobbs 3, J Jermyn 2, S Sweetnam) Munster Div 1 Cork Harlequins B 3 (D Farrell, L Daunt, A Daunt-Sheehan) UCC 2 (P Catchpole, A Gray); Barber Cup final Cork C of I F 6 (S Wolfe 2, P Brownlow 2, B O’Mahony, E Hayes) Cork Harlequins E 1;