Insta’s fortress finally breached

Women’s Division 1 Catholic Institute 0 UCC 3 (Antonia McGrath, Olivia Roycroft, Emily O’Leary) The result of the season so far at Rosbrien on Saturday, as Institute’s 32-month unbeaten run in Munster unravelled in stunning fashion. UCC knew they had to take something from their trip to Limerick to realisitcally keep their title hopes alive, and hit the hosts with a first-half tour de force.

Antonia McGrath slotted home from the injector spot to put the students in front, a lead doubled by Olivia Roycroft before Emily O’Leary scored the pick of the bunch. The former Munster U18 forward picked up a rebound off Elaine Redmond’s pads, dummied to shoot to force the keeper to go down and calmly flicked the ball over her. That left a shell-shocked Insta needing to chase the game, and they gave it everything they had in the second half, forcing eight corners. But UCC’s defence, marshalled by McGrath and Amy Kate Trevor, was immaculate while Emma White had a stormer between the sticks to keep the maroon hordes out. It hands the short-term advantage to Cork Harlequins – now the only side yet to lose in the league – but with four more games between the top three due before the season is out, there will be plenty of twists and turns yet. Bandon 4 (Ciara McCarthy 2, Vicky Burns 2) UL 2 (Emma Sherlock, Laura Peters) Bandon’s resurgence continues apace as they eventually shrugged off a stubborn UL outfit in an entertaining tie in west Cork. Emma Sherlock shone for UL throughout and she put her side in front with a short corner tracer after a switch move at the top of the circle. The hosts equalised from the hit-off when Ciara McCarthy mopped up a corner rebound to leave things level at the break, before Loraine Copithorne provided the impetus and set up McCarthy to roof a cracker. Back came UL again, Sherlock finding room to maraud down the right before crossing, with Laura Peters getting the decisive touch amid a scramble at the back post.

But the hosts, for whom Pamela Forde and Claire Hayes had excellent games, stepped up a gear in the final 15 minutes, Vicky Burns rattling home two shots to ensure her side took the spoils. Ashton 2 (Caroline McCarthy, Mary-Claire Cummins) Limerick 1 Ashton confirmed their ‘best of the rest’ status by consolidating fourth place, but not without a tough workout from an ever-improving Limerick. Having gone a goal up early on through the in-form Mary-Claire Cummins, the hosts doubled their lead from the penalty spot after a bizarre sequence of events. A shot hit three different feet in the circle before creeping over the line, but was taken back for a stroke which Caroline McCarthy converted. With Kate Harvey excelling at both ends of the pitch, Ashton looked set to run away with it but found Anne-Marie Byrne in inspired form in the Limerick goal. And John Meyler’s girls setup a worrisome finish for Ashton when they scrambled home an improvised penalty corner, but that was as good as it got for the visitors. Thursday: UL 0 Catholic Institute 7 (Eimear Cregan 2, Naomi Carroll 2, Katie Campbell, Eimear Ryan, Caroline Hutchinson) Women’s Irish Junior Cup Rd 1 Not the best of days for Munster on the national stage; just Ashton, who received a bye to round two, are left standing after the first day of action. Cork C of I travelled to Ballymoney in high spirits and hopeful of a repeat of last year’s 4-0 win there, but had the scoreline reversed on them and left north Antrim with little to show for their efforts. The same applies to Cork Harlequins, who were narrowly beaten 1-0 in Dublin by Genesis in a tight affair, while Queens University completed a good day in the Mardyke – their rugby team also won there on Saturday in the Ulster Bank League – by seeing off Audrey O’Flynn’s UCC seconds side 2-1. Women’s IJC results: Ballymoney 4 Cork Church of Ireland 0; Genesis 1 Cork Harlequins 0; UCC 1 Queens University 2;  Pembroke Wanderers 5 Pegasus 1; Three Rock Rovers 0 Ulster Elks 3; Lisnagarvey 5 Glenanne 0; Loreto 3 Corinthian 0; Genesis 1 Cork Harlequins 0; Lurgan 3 Belfast Harlequins 0; UCD 3 Dublin University 0; Armagh 2 Portadown 3; Byes to Rd 2: Ashton, Banbridge, Hermes, Old Alex, Railway Union and Randalstown.