Quins through but C of I falter in the Mournes

Cork Church of Ireland’s miserable recent Irish Senior Cup record doesn’t look any better this morning as they recover from a shock 4-1 defeat away to Kilkeel.

The blues, minus the injured Philip Smith and Nigel Buttimer as well as Munster U18 co-skipper Gary Wilkinson, led early on through Andrew Daunt in the round one tie, but lost Derek Hales to injury and fell apart after the half-hour. Two second-half breakaway goals finished the job for Mourne men to leave C of I still searching for a first title since 1999.   There was better luck for Cork Harlequins in Ulster as David Eakins’ treble backboned their 4-1 victory at Antrim — they’ll play Cookstown at home next up — while Munster men played pivotal roles in other ties. Jonny Bruton equalised three minutes from time to send YMCA’s tie with Corinthian to extra time and eventually a shootout, and the Cork man nailed one of the strokes to send the Milltown side through. He’ll now come up against some familiar foes from his C of I days as YM have a home tie against UCC in round two. Waterford native David Molloy scored Pembroke’s insurance goal as they beat Annadale 4-2 in an entertaining tie, while Nick Burns was on target for UCD in their 4-1 win at Belfast Harlequins. Elsewhere, Mitch Darling reversed home 15 seconds from time to give Three Rock Rovers a 2-1 success over Glenanne, while Fingal thrashed Mossley 6-1.