Treble hunt still on for UCC

UCC completed part two of a potential treble at Rosbrien this afternoon, as Fiona O’Connell’s late strike saw off Catholic Institute 3-2 in the women’s Examiner Cup final. Having already annexed the Munster Senior Cup for the first time since 1995, College now go into Tuesday night’s title showdown with Quins hoping to send the league to a playoff – and claim automatic IHL qualification – to round off what has been a productive season at the Mardyke. Following a scoreless first half, Edel Higgins gave Institute the lead when she deftly touched home a long ball. However, Eibhlín O’Donoghue won and converted a penalty stroke to cancel that out, before Ali O’Regan fired in from close range to put College in front.

Naomi Carroll got a copycat of Institute’s first goal to level things up again, only for O’Connell – who has been a real find for College and is the club’s top goalscorer this term – to deflect in Hollie Moffett’s crash with three minutes to go. Institute had condemned Belvedere to life in Division Two 24 hours ealier, Kym Daly netting a hat-trick as they won 6-1 in Ballincollig. Belvedere finish bottom of the top tier as a result, and are likely to be dropping down assuming Waterford wish to make the step up. Bandon were the other big winners in the women’s game this weekend as Ciara Lynch’s double helped them claim the Division Four Cup with a 2-1 win over UL. Claire Stack and Mari Moynihan both hit doubles as Cobh claimed the Division Six Plate by defeating Bruff 4-2. Elsewhere, Simon Brickenden claimed four as Institute’s men gained revenge over UCC for their 8-2 thrashing at the Mardyke earlier this season, doing a similar amount of damage by winning 7-2 at Rosbrien. However, the Limerick club handed Cork Harlequins a walkover yesterday. College made up for that defeat somewhat in Division 3A, where their ever-improving seconds defeated theitr Institute counterparts 5-3, with Albert Valles and Mark Barry both on target twice.

Leaders Quins D saw off Limerick B 7-0 with Stephen O’Donovan bagging three of those, while Mark Stockil’s brace propelled Ashton to a 3-2 win over C of I E, for whom Trevor Gray’s pinpoint penalty stroke and a Nigel Bateman strike weren’t enough. But the real entertainment was to be found at Rosbrien, where Galway and C of I C shared ten goals in an end-to-end Cork Cup final. Galway’s Darren Fahy and C of I’s Philip Sweetam both hit hat-tricks, but the Cork side’s greater firepower saw them run out 6-4 winners. In the men’s Division Two, Quins C won 3-1 at Bandon, with Stuart Egner getting two.