Ruthless Egner gives Quins bragging rights

Cork Harlequins staged a smash-and-grab raid to record a 4-2 victory over derby rivals Cork Church of Ireland in an enthralling Peard Cup quarter-final at Garryduff earlier today. Quins were full value for their win, their first over C of I since routing them 5-2 at the semi-final stage of this competition last December, with a livewire David Egner doing most of the damage. Both teams had agreed to play this match under Irish Hockey League rules, in order to give themselves a valuable hit-out ahead of their respective IHL clashes on November 29. The result was a superb spectacle played at a breakneck pace, easily the best club game played out anywhere in Munster this term. While C of I had hit nine goals in their last three games against Quins, it was the visitors who showed the ruthlessness required up front, with three of their strikes coming from play. But a Quins victory looked extremely unlikely early on, with C of I dominating the opening quarter. John Jermyn slipped as he wound up his first trademark drag of the game in the eighth minute, but it still had the pace to find the backboard and give the hosts an early lead. They could have extended their advantage three minutes later, when Adam Pritchard did brilliantly to save a lost cause near the corner flag and hammer across goal, but Jonny Bruton – unusually subdued and superbly marshalled by Jason Black all game – couldn’t direct his shot on target. Quins weren’t helping their own cause with constant backchat – Dave Lombard served a two-minute suspension, while they had a short corner taken off them for a similar outburst of dissent at the end of the quarter.

But they settled far better on the resumption, and conjured a superb short-corner equaliser in the 25th minute. Main dangerman Dan Hobbs lined up a drag and drew Pritchard out before switching to Sean Nicholson, who slammed the ball across returning C of I netminder Mark Ruddle. C of I’s Stephen Parker thought he’d scored when he bustled past Quins keeper Chris Daunt and held off Mark Black to scramble the ball home in the 28th minute, but the strike was chalked off for a foul in the build-up. That decision resonated even louder for C of I two minutes after half time, when Egner got the deftest of touches on Phil O’Driscoll’s cross to direct the ball past Ruddle for a shock lead. Their advantage only lasted four minutes however; there was an inevitability about the 41st minute strike from the moment C of I won just their second short, and Jermyn stepped up to rifle an unstoppable drag past Daunt. Richard Gash’s absence this term means that Quins lack firepower on paper, but Egner is doing his best to ensure those goals aren’t missed, and he was instrumental in the strikes that gave Quins the bragging rights. First, in the 50th minute, he got in behind the hosts’ defence and pulled a perfect ball back from the endline for Dutch erasmus student Geert Fromme to put Quins back in front. And then he made the game safe on 63 minutes, adding the finishing touch to the strike of the match. Rob Hobbs made some space for himself on the right and fed Paul Lombard, who found Egner unmarked at the top of the circle.

Egner resisted the temptation to shoot early, instead drawing out Ruddle before expertly flicking the ball over him, though the covering Pritchard was furious with himself for not completing a clearance off the line. C of I, who had strangely lacked intensity for the previous 15 minutes, suddenly woke up, and forced just their third short of the game. But Daunt was equal to the task this time of denying Jermyn this time around, and when Jason Black put in a brilliant diving block on Parker minutes later, C of I knew it wasn’t to be their day. The defending Peard Cup champions will now take on C of I B – 5-2 winners over Catholic Institute last month – in the last four, a repeat of last year’s final which the Farmers Cross boys won 2-0. CORK C OF I: M Ruddle; A Pritchard, A Chambers, K Burns, N Buttimer; A Herbert, David Hobbs, J Jermyn; A Moffett, S Parker, J Bruton. Rolling subs: P Smith, R Gray, S O’Grady, K Lynch. CORK HARLEQUINS: C Daunt; L d’Alton, J Hobbs, Dan Hobbs, J Black; S Nicholson, D Lombard, M Black; E Dore, P Lombard, D Egner. Rolling subs: P Murray, R Hobbs, P O’Driscoll, G Fromme, C Ross. Umpires: S McAllister & A Shute