Inst and Quins last two standing again

Catholic Institute kept their double hopes alive by keeping UCC at bay in a tetchy 3-2 women’s Munster Senior Cup semi-final win at the Mardyke. Eimear Cregan netted the opener for the visitors, a carbon copy of her strike in the league meeting a fortnight ago, when she was given too much room to surge into the circle off a dotted line free, and her forehand smash beat Zoe Cremin to the bottom corner. Olivia Roycroft’s drag-flick was a decent response for UCC, who went in level at the break, only for another Cregan effort – this time from a corner – and a Roisin Upton drag to put Institute in control. Upton was subsequently withdrawn for the final quarter to keep her fresh for Wednesday’s Munster schools cup final, before Roycroft repeated her earlier trick in the dying seconds to bring College closer on the scoreline but no closer to a repeat of their 2009 final appearance.

Institute will lock horns with Cork Harlequins in the decider – a repeat of last year’s decider –  as they outclassed Cork C of I 5-0 at Garryduff, spreading the goals around as Rachel McSharry, Acacia Taylor, Claire Bergin, Tracey Johnston and Orlagh Cotter found the target. McSharry’s straight hit opened the scoring before Taylor rediverted a mis-hit from McSharry to the net. Johanna Hyland’s penalty corner strike was tapped home by Johnson, before Bergin repeated the trick off Kay Gaffney’s strike. Cotter put the icing on the cake, pouncing after a goalmouth scramble. The Munster Senior Plate final will be contested by Bandon and Ashton, who justified their favourites’ tags in their clashes with Belvedere and UL respectively. Meanwhile, Sarah Gray’s comeback from two seasonson the sidelines with a  serious knee injury continues apace, as she netted a hat-trick in Bandon’s 5-0 victory, while Ashton skipper Caroline McCarthy grabbed two in her side’s 3-0 success. Munster Senior Cup semi-finals UCC 2 (O Roycroft 2) Catholic Institute 3 (E Cregan 2, R Upton); Cork C of I 0 Cork Harlequins 5 (R McSharry, A Taylor, T Johnston, C Bergin, O Cotter); Munster Senior Plate semi-finals Belvedere 0 Bandon 5 (S Gray 3, S Sullivan, C McCarthy); UL 0 Ashton 3 (C McCarthy 2, K Stokes);