More twists in UCC’s Quins rivalry

Munster Senior Cup semi-finals Cork Harlequins 3 (David Egner, David Eakins, Paul Lombard) UCC 1 (Andrew Scannell) There was to be no repeat of Tuesday night’s heroics for UCC as a fired-up Cork Harlequins ensured a safe passage to the Munster Senior Cup final. Two early blows for the students essentially set the tone; first, Paul Lombard skilfully beat two players at close quarters on the baseline to square for David Egner to score after 90 seconds. Then College lost sweeper Andy Gray to injury a few minutes later, although Adam O’Callaghan and John Catchpole in particular stepped up to the plate in his absence.

Quins had a lucky escape when College broke clear as Quins switched off while vehemently protesting a decision, which saw Paul Lombard (yellow) and David Lombard (green) both spend time in the sin-bin for dissent. But John Hobbs came to the rescue, picking off Cian Kavanagh’s attempted pass with two College forwards unmarked in the D. The hosts, who were missing Mark Black and Darren Beamish, finally gave themselves some breathing room when a free was upgraded to a short corner for dissent and David Eakins’ drag wrong-footed the otherwise excellent Kieran Healy. Andrew Scannell gave the students hope when pinging a high drag to the back stantion but Quins won a slew of corners and eventually worked an opening for Paul Lombard to fire home the clincher. Cork C of I w/o Bandon scr Possibly with one eye on their vital league clash with UCC on Sunday, Bandon gave this game a miss when it emerged on Friday that they could not field 11 players. It gives C of I a free pass to the final, another showdown with perennial rivals Quins. Men’s Division 1 Bandon 0 UCC 1 (Greg Chambers) After four games in eight days, fatigue played its part in a sub-standard performance but UCC will be counting their lucky stars to have escaped from west Cork with three points. UCC dominated throughout but Bandon looked dangerous on the counter, particularly when Julius Handel was put through one on one with Kieran Healy, only for the College netminder to smother the ball before the German teenager could finish. The majority of chances fell the way of the visitors, who controlled most of the game, but Nigel Martin and Mark Deane had excellent outings in defence while Ian Hosford saved everything that came his way, memorably denying Wesley Brownlow and Colin Manning. UCC’s corner unit struggled to function until four minutes from time, and even then the goal was fortuitous; Andy Gray topped his attempted hit after the ball was switched left to him but Greg Chambers was on hand to sweep home the winner under Hosford. Munster Junior Cup Cork Harlequins B 2 (Mark Lombard 2) UCC B 4 (Andy Colton 2, Colin Manning, Greg Chambers) UCC’s seconds followed the lead of their first team in causing a second big shock at Farmer’s Cross inside a week, winning a scintillating Munster Junior Cup tie against Cork Harlequins B.

Division 2 sides don’t often beat teams from the league above them in this competition and that trend looked set to continue as Quins bossed the opening quarter with David Egner and Colin Ross to the fore, scoring a fine deflected corner goal through Mark Lombard. Philip Brennan thought he’d levelled it for the students – coached by first-team players Peter Catchpole and Stuart O’Grady – but his deflected effort was correctly chalked off while Kieran Healy’s half-dozen saves kept the Quins hordes at bay. College, with Jack Cherry outstanding at left-back, came out fighting in the second half and turned the game on its head with a ripper of a drag-flick from Andy Colton and a goal of the season contender from Colin Manning. Greg Chambers took a quick free and his inside pass found Manning at full tilt coming through the middle. Without breaking stride, the Kilkenny man’s first touch put the ball in the air and his second was a crashing volley from the top of the circle which found the roof of the net. Quins turned the screw once more and made it a tie game again with a carbon copy of their first goal, Lombard again applying the vital touch. But College came roaring back and Brian Egan won a penalty stroke when his deflection hit a body on the line, and Chambers dispatched the flick with aplomb. Former Three Rock man Egan then won another corner which Colton dispatched to the net to give the students enough of a buffer to see out a famous victory. Cork C of I 6 (Philip Sweetnam 2, Alex Burns, Simon Wolfe, Philip Brownlow, Clifford Sweetnam) Catholic Institute 1 (Cathal Duggan) Perennial favourites for this competition, C of I B underlined their intentions with a comprehensive dismissal of Division 2 pace-setters Catholic Institute.

Philip Sweetnam scored twice while recent Ireland U18 call-ups Simon Wolfe and Alex Burns both hit the target along with fellow tyro Philip Brownlow. Former Bandon man Cathal Duggan hit Insta’s consolation while Clifford Sweetnam rounded things off for C of I, who must be fancied to make the final again given they will play either their own thirds or Midleton in the last four. Limerick 9 (Jonny Powell 4, Tom Clarke 2, Jeffrey Smith, Marco Cossavella, Robbie Ryan) Galway 1 Munster U18 hitman Jonny Powell helped himself to four goals as Limerick made light work of Galway on the westerners’ return to Munster competition. Veteran goal machine Robbie Ryan was also back among the goals for the Villiers-based side, who will have home advantage once more when they take on UCC in the semi-finals on February 10.