Cork Harlequins midfielder David Lombard must wait to find out his fate after he was red-carded in his side’s 5-1 Munster Senior Cup semi-final loss to Cork C of I.
Lombard was shown green and yellow cards for verbals directed towards umpire Simon MacAllister, and saw the latter upgraded to a red when he continued his tirade.
An automatic one-match ban now comes into place, but this may be upgraded if Lombard is called to a disciplinary hearing.
John Jermyn’s drag had C of I 1-0 up at the break of a poor encounter, with both sides short on inspiration in the first half.
But two goals inside 60 seconds from teen starlet Nick Burns had C of I cruising; first, the Midleton College student slid into finish off Jermyn’s pinpoint centre, before Clinton Sweetnam was given far too much room to pick out Burns with his back to goal, and he duly swivelled and fired past Reinout Mensink.
David Hobbs hit the goal of the game — a blistering reverse into the top-left corner — before his brother John pulled one back for Quins with a switch-flick. However, Jermyn landed his second drag to rub salt into the visitors’ wounds.
C of I will meet Catholic Institute in the decider, after the latter turned the form-book on its head to trounce Bandon 4-1.
A brace from Spaniard Albert Valls helped Ollie O’Connor’s side go some way to avenging the 6-0 hammering they took from the west Cork men on home turf in the league earlier this season.
In the sole league game of the weekend, C of I B and UCC shared the points with a 1-1 draw.
Richie Dorman scored for the hosts with Stephen Sweetnam netting for College against his old club, though a sterling performance by C of I keeper Billy Lynch helped his side take a share of the spoils.
The standard of play at the CofI/Harlequins game was very poor & there was very little to enthuse about. It looks as if Munster senior hockey has gone from a 2 team league to a one team league & not because CofI have improved. Harlequins appear to have very little to offer & they were a complete shambles in the 2nd half. I went along as a neutral hoping to see a quality game of hockey but left very disappointed. I won’t be rushing back any time soon.
I must congratulate Cath Ins on their amazing 4-1 victory over Bandon. This is a major shock as Bandon were odds on favourites to get to the final.
I believe Quins were missing a few players on Saturday but are still a team in major decline. It is a big loss for Munster hockey but they don’t seem to have any youth in their squad. The Lombards/Blacks arnt getting any younger and it’s just a matter of time before they all retire.
being a c.i man i was delighted for the lads, but it was only 2 years ago quins hammered us 5-1 in a league match. last saturday quins were without, s.nicholson, jason and mark black, 3 irish players.
its not a 1 team league, thers still another league match in quins.
To comment on not great.
Quins had a few injuries and it showed.
C oI was set up to win a match and not to entertain.
This is the way the sport is played. No team in Leinster or Ulster plays attractive hockey really, it only happens when they have the match won. Corinthians and the Glens are based on rugged defence and getting short corners on the break. Pembroke are based on sheer physical fitness, grinding you down and getting short corners.
It is a great shame for Munster Hockey that Quins are in decline, however this has been happening for a while, and not just in Quins. I’m not sure how many of the current Quins team that are under 23 have come through their youth system, but in order to sustain a competitive team, you need guys coming through the whole time, challenging for places and creating competition. For this to be a ”wake up call” for all of our clubs is too late. That should have come 10 years ago. I hope for all of Munster clubs that they can now focus on getting their underage right and start to refeed their senior teams, it’ll only take 5 years to start to see it coming through. We are so far behind the Leinster and Ulster clubs in this aspect.
To comment 7.40 am.
You make the statement that no team in Leinster or Ulster play attractive hockey. I have seen a lot of hockey and I have to disagree with you. There are plenty of teams in Ulster/Leinster that play attractive hockey.
Yes, some teams do play on the break and hope to win short corners but to say that in Ulster/Leinster most of the teams to this is rubbish.