Cork Harlequins produced one of their most complete performances of the season to defeat UCC 3-2 today and ensure the Munster women’s league title will remain at Harlequin Park for a 14th consecutive season.
Quins found the net at crucial times and generally seemed more fired up than a surprisingly flat College outfit, and were fine value for their win in front of one of the biggest crowds at the Farmer’s Cross venue all season.
It was difficult to escape the feeling that College – who were, amazingly, going for a fourth straight win over Quins – had exhausted their reserves in winning 4-3 here earlier this month on the last day of the regulation season.
That victory had left the sides deadlocked on 36 points and forced a league title playoff, but it was Quins who handled the pressure better, as their experience told.
College were made to work exceptionally hard for their circle penetrations. Hollie Moffett failed to exert any influence in midfield, while Quins were buoyed by having Eimear Cregan and Jan Dillon available for a full 70 minutes for the first time this term.
After Amy O’Neill saved from Ali O’Connor at a corner inside 30 seconds, it was all Quins. Cregan blasted over the bar while Karen Olden produced some nifty saves from Hilary Chapple – who was played in one-on-one by Jo Hyland’s clever ball – and Karen Bateman.
The latter rifled an improvised corner against an upright as College lived off their wits, but it was they who took the lead against the run of play on 22 minutes.
That came via their second corner, as Audrey O’Flynn produced an inch-perfect drag-flick that rattled into the top corner. But Quins were level eight minutes later, when Yvonne O’Byrne’s cross-shot found its way past Olden via a College defender’s stick.
They subsequently struck a killer blow on the stroke of half-time, when Cliodhna Sargent found the bottom corner with a pinpoint corner hit, before she produced a stunning tackle to deny Aine Connery at the other end.
Quins gave themselves more breathing space on 43 minutes when skipper Rachel McSharry again made a corner count, and the hosts battened down the hatches thereafter.
Up until then, this had been a highly physical but fair encounter, but Quins seemed to get the rub of the green from some strange umpiring decisions, which only frustrated the students even more.
The running of Connery and Miriam Crowley continued to be a threat, especially as the former got on top of Dillon as the second half wore on.
But Quins’ passing was superior, and largely kept College away from their circle until the 64th minute, when O’Flynn produced another unstoppable high drag to set up a grandstand finish.
But aside from Eibhlín O’Donoghue’s crash which was just missed by Aine Donegan, the expected onslaught never arrived. College can console themselves with their IHL place and the two trophies they have already annexed in a brilliant season, but Quins proved they are top dogs in Munster once more.
College’s misery was compounded later in in the day as their men’s third team went down 3-1 to Belvedere B in the Barber Cup final.
Conor Wall got a neat touch to a Derek O’Sullivan crash to give the Ballincollig side a half-time lead, only for College to equalise when South African forward Andrew Keys popped up at the back post to touch home after great work down the left from Munster junior representative Brian Egan.
But Wall claimed his second of the day to nose Belvedere back in front 10 minutes later, before O’Sullivan – one of Division 3’s top goalscorers this term – saw his short corner hit career off the foot of James O’Reilly and career into the top corner.
Keys gave College a chance to get back into it soon after when winning a penalty stroke, but he fired wide to ensure there was to be no miracle comeback for Kay Gaffney’s side.
Meanwhile, Cork Harlequins completed their men’s Division One campaign with a 6-1 rout of Bandon, a slightly worrying result for the westies as they head for the IHL wildcard playoffs. Paul Lombard and Sean Nicholson both got doubles for the Munster Senior Cup champions.
Eoin Tyrrell’s photos from this game can be viewed here.
put up some photos from yesterday…i know u are prob hungover but come on like!!
As a college supporter I was absolutely disgusted with the umpiring on Sunday. It is awful when senior Quins players are allowed run the show. Umpires just fall at their feet in order to give Quins the advantage. The umpires looked afraid to ever give college the benefit of the doubt. College won numerous frees that were given against them, particularly at crucial times. In my opinion, although college did not play to their potential, and Quins probably put in their best performance in the MSL this season, the umpires and their lack of authority were Quins’ 12th player.
sounds like sour grapes….. i was at the game and thought quins were the better side and deserved to win, ucc got their tactics wrong on the day, they kept trying the big ball from the back when a simple transfer from left 2 right or visa versa would have broken the press….
neutral doesn’t sound too neutral…,,anon wasnt saying that quins didnt deserve to win… s/he was just saying that the refs gave some of the quins’ players too much respect..especially when it came to aerial time when karen bateman was allowed to stand practically a foot away from the free and charge down the aerial…the refs were not using their authority in that regard….. there was a lot of bullying of the ref from some players and the quins supporters
I totally agree that Karen should have been warned for standing to close to the frees/aerials, but I think she was trying to negate an advantage ucc were giving themselves, most of the time it didn’t look to me like they were moving the ball a yard when they were throwing up aerials. But two wrongs dont make a right and both should have been picked up. The umpires got a few calls wrong on both sides alright though. At least none of them were game-changing decisions tho it was unfortunate for ucc that many of the ones that went against them came when they were chasing the game. But Quins deserved to win, they created much more.
UCC didn’t deserve to win the game but i feel that they didn’t deserve to lose it because of weak umpiring and this was the case. The experienced quins players were able to work this to their advantage while the students unable to do so. The umpires will naturally be more intimidated by women their own age. Advantage decisions and the 5 yard rule for overheads were terribly one sided. Big games like this should have the best 2 umpires available in munster.
sure all ucc had to do was have a player a stick distance away from where the free was and that’s what they did…..refs have been so slack all season on the 5 yards and it was evident again in the play-off game…from where i was standing in the second half of the match i could see that quins were taking advantage of the refs inability to estimate the five yards….and when the quins players were ordered to step back they would creep up and gain yards and the refs would do nothing about it. ucc were given nothing in the game and yes as anon said none of these were game changing decisions but they still harmed ucc in that they were unable to gather any momentum and play they way they can play. well done to quins on winning…i dont think there are any sour grapes in the ucc camp. they know they didnt play to their potential and that quins were better on the day…..
well ucc may not have got the league but it’s been a great season for them: Lost in the final of the Varsities to UCD in golden goal- not bad given that UCD won ISC. Winning the Munster Senior Cup and Examiner Cup and bringing the title down to the wire. it was great to see that the womens league was so competitive, with three teams in it til a fortnight to go and two in it to the death. was unfortunate that ucc didnt get their 4th win against quins in five games….ucc for the league next year
Ucc for the league.Quins getting old!!!
Very true about increased competitiveness this yr. not just the top 3 either, institute and bandon were a handful for everyone too, and both reached the final of a major competition, inst in the irish trophy and bandon the msc. I suppose having a greater spread of players makes for a more competitive league in munster but probably does us no favours in national competitions. I was gutted college lost on sunday, woulda been nice to have a new name on the trophy after more than a decade but i hope they can do munster proud against loreto in the ihl next weekend!
cookstown vid!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKAcz0XGHx4
Fair play to Quins they pulled it out when they needed to on Sunday and are deserving champions. UCC made it very easy for them though, kept running into blind alleys.
Was nice to finally see a decent crowd at Harlequin Park too, some of the attendance for the ihl games was poor. Best of luck to them in the semis, CI brought one Irish trophy back to munster would be great to see another one heading our way!
How far do people think 5 yards is? I thought the quins players were 5 yards most of the time. Although no one has questioned whether the UCC players were 5 yards at all times from the quins frees but thats probably because they didn’t throw an overhead from every single free they got. Worked out well for Quins though cause all UCC did was give possesion away everytime. You can’t win games without the ball.
I also don’t think that the refs gave more decisions to any one team on Sunday, it just seemed that the more experienced quins players just got on with it when a free was awarded against them, where as UCC players got rattled and at one stage even picked up the ball and threw it away, which really showed how they might have all the skills in the world but miss an experienced head in their team.
Must say though was a very enjoyable game to watch, good advertisment for the sport!
i predict that was the last league title quins will win for a while….they spent too much time over the years worrying about the success of their first team that they forgot about breeding young blood in the lower divisions..its only now when the team is getting quite old and having children that they decide to develop some of the younger players….. quins could have had 10 more years of league titles and even more on a national stage but they are def not going to do that now. they are a spent force and were extremely lucky that they got college on an off day on sunday…in the previous four games before sunday between the sides college won 3 and drew one. quins have nobody to replace some of the older players when they retire
Its the same case in with their mens 1st team!!!They have had their best years.They will still be able to compete but I can’t see them winning on the national stage with their mens team for a very very long time.
Its actually 5 meters now and has been for number of years, which shows how much all those people with their comments know. Its great pasttime of people down here to criticise umpiring rather than player performances, those people giving out about it should try picking up a whistle once in a while and venture out onto a pitch sometime to take charge of a game. Apparently its very easy according to all you ”umpiring experts”. Put up or shut up.
So true and I totally agree with what is being saying above. I don’t think college are being sour grapes about their loss. After all, by the sounds of it Quins were in military style training for the last three weeks. They deserved the win on their preparation and did put in a better performance on Sunday. However no young players are going to Quins when you have to play along side people with such attitudes, like what was mentioned in the first comment, and one can clearly see from the side line how demanding some of the more experienced players are to the younger players.
As a supporter of sports, I have to say I enjoyed the match for what it was on Sunday.
A game !!! Clearly Quins were the better team on the day and no amount of deliberation and condemnation of certain players or umpires can change the outcome. Well done to them for winning another league title.
Went to the ladies senior league play off last Sunday.Watch a lot of hockey during the season and I can honestly say that this was the worst display of umpiring I have seen in ages.Neither umpire was capable of taking charge of the game.What a shame in such an important match.Thought Quins deserved it.College ran too much with the ball.
well if the quins players didnt look 5 yards away well they most certainly didnt look 5 metres away(5 metres is 51/2 yards)….. i do agree with comment number 16 that it’s easy to blame umpires….umpires at the end of the day are doing their best….i have reffed games before (obliged to do it) and have seen from doing it how tough it is to ref and to get all decisions correct….but refs need to use their authority more and lay down the law early in the game as opposed to correcting a team once on a matter and then not penalise that team when they repeatedly commit the same offence….
Both of the appointed umpires for the league play off have achieved a lot in umpiring this year. I can assure all of those who have criticised them that both of them strive to achieve their best every time they go out onto a pitch. Perhaps this is not good enough for all of you anonymous critics but from what I read, and I was not at the game, neither of them changed the outcome of the game. May I suggest, like UMPS above, that rather than waste time criticising those who are prepared to put a huge effort into enabling hockey be played, that you pick up a whistle next season and try it for yourselves. The MHUA will give all the support that is required to make umpires of people and then perhaps you won’t be as quick to criticise. It is not easy out there and as long as people like all you “ANONS” continue to criticise there will be even less of us out there to enable hockey be played.
I agree with Julie’s comments, if people are so quick to comment, go get a whistle and try and ref. I know as a player (who plays the game, from the very back line) and also as a supporter it is very easy to ref from these positions, but when you get on the pitch with a whistle in hand, it’s very different, as I have refereed the game for teams when they are stuck. Don’t get me wrong I know at times I have questioned decisions myself, and have asked umpires “Why was that for?” and have gotten an answer, even if I agreed or not, and nine times out of ten if we wanted the other ref to be consulted refs took the authority to ask the other ref, and if it still went against us, we just get on with the game, you have to, that’s sport. So next season I’m looking forward to meeting many refs called “ANON”.
With all the comments being thrown at members of the Quins team for supposedly demanding things and controlling umpires, is total rubbish, did Quins complain when they were awarded a short corner and then it was decided by the 2 refs “Who took authority” (Gave UCC benefit of the doubt [comment 2]) and decided it was a free out, NO, so for people to say the refs were the 12th Quins player and not taking authority, again rubbish. Many UCC players had a go at the refs on Sunday also during the game, questioning decisions, so to say it was all Quins is unfair.
With reference to the whole 5meters thing, Karen was the required distance before the Ariel was put up, but pace allowed her to get to it, when UCC I felt became rattled in the game, putting the ball in the air became a slower process, and this became more of an issue in the 2nd half, as Karen was getting to the ball quicker, the same can be said for Hilary Chaps, who was the required distance and also got in quick to stop the overhead. So I’m not sure what all the fussing is about with regard to this issue.
On playing the match, and being part of the winning team, I feel UCC have really put it up to us for the last 2 seasons. It was quiet enjoyable that the league did come down to the wire, and the competitiveness in the Munster league is getting better, referring back to the other comments about teams such as Bandon etc. I hope all enjoyed the match for what it was, which was a good game of competitive hockey on a nice day in Quins, and thanks to all who came and watched, and to our sponsor Pat Dawson.
Cheers
Amy
Quins