UCC advance but Bandon bow out

Day 3 Bandon’s best hope of qualifying for the Irish Hockey League for the first time went up in smoke in the wildcard playoffs at Garryduff yesterday as they succumbed 3-0 to Instonians. Having been beaten by a late Three Rock Rovers goal on Friday night, Bandon knew only a win would do here after Rovers and Inst drew 1-1 to send the former through. The west Cork side made most of the running but lacked a killer instinct and accuracy in their passing, while they were left to rue the concession of a soft first-half goal that allowed Inst to sit back and hit on the break. In a first half of few chances, the best two fell to Bandon skipper Ali Smith, who used his searing pace to good effect when given the opportunity. Darren Beamish’s searching long ball found Smith, who exchanged passes with Paul O’Leary but couldn’t beat Nigel Skillen with his angled, flicked effort. Inst’s attacks mainly came from Chris Kirk’s trickery and crash balls from skipper Paul Gleghorne, with one such effort re-routed to the backboard by John Watson, despite his touch taking much of the pace off the ball. Bandon – for whom Graham Kingston, Rob Smith and Darren Beamish shone, especially in defensive mode – came straight back down the other end, but were controversially denied a penalty stroke when skipper Ali Smith was stick-tackled by goalkeeper Skillen as he attempted to round him after collecting Andrew Kingston’s pinpoint through ball. Advantage was played as Smith kept his footing, and with a covering defender on the line and the angle narrowed he squared for a diving David Smith, who failed to connect with the goal at his mercy. Too many Bandon passes went astray as they lacked the accuracy required to chase the game, and Inst put a gloss on the scoreline with a couple of late corner goals. The first saw the ball worked back to Mark Irwin in the push-out spot and he scored via the body of defender Chris Wood, before Gleghorne dragged home another in the last 30 seconds. Meanwhile, UCC were comfortable 4-1 winners over Greenfields in the final IHL wildcard encounter, to ensure Munster will have three representatives in the competition for the third season running. The students welcomed back experienced Munster senior interpro Ali O’Connor to their line-up, and went ahead midway through the first half. Greenfields goalkeeper Sinead Collins repelled a short corner but then lost her footing when attempting to clear, allowing Olivia Roycroft to return the ball towards goal where Ali O’Regan was waiting to touch home. College then saw a goal chalked off, Aine Curran’s looped corner bash ruled out for danger despite dipping in time to strike the backboard, before UCC defender Kate Murphy endured a contrasting 60 seconds. First, the former Bandon Grammar girl gave away a penalty stroke when Neasa McGettigan’s goalbound shot hit her on the line. McGettigan’s flick stuck the upright and then Emma White’s pads, but the College goalie got her stick down in time to prevent the ball rolling back over the line. Having survived that let-off, Murphy then doubled College’s lead at the other end with a switched short corner strike on the cusp of half-time. And College all but killed the game off within 60 seconds of the restart. Fiona O’Connell, a star performer throughout the weekend despite playing out of position, surged through from right midfield, riding three tackles before blasting a rising effort across McKnight and inside the far post from the narrowest of angles. Vicky O’Sullivan was also rewarded for a fine tournament when she picked up a corner rebound, pivoted and fired home for 4-0, before Greenfields bagged a superb late consolation – the young side’s only goal of the tournament – when star performer McGettigan surged into the D off a quick free and rattled the ball into the bottom corner. College have been drawn in the weaker of the pools on paper for next season; Loreto, Ballymoney and Railway Union are the headliners there with Lurgan and Cork Harlequins joining the students. Old Alexandra were pushed all the way by Ards before eventually becoming the first side to progress from the women’s IHL wildcards at Garryduff. The Milltown outfit had been in ruthless form against UCC and Greenfields, notching 11 goals without reply, but they found Gareth Grundie’s side a much tougher nut to crack. The Ulster girls realistically needed to get something out of this game to keep their hopes alive, and with goalkeeper Naomi McKnight in inspired form, seemed set to keep the Alex attack at bay. Alex had already seen a goal chalked off but they eventually broke the deadlock three minutes from time via a Nicola Gray short corner strike, ensuring they ended the wildcard tournament with a 100% record and three clean sheets. Alex received scant reward for their efforts however, being drawn into a pool of death alongside holders Pegasus, finalists Hermes, Armagh, UCD and Catholic Institute. ESB Electric Ireland Irish Hockey League Wildcard Playoffs, Garryduff, Cork Men Bandon 1 (A Smith) Three Rock Rovers 2 (T Samuel, M Maguire); Three Rock Rovers 1 (R Canning) Instonians 1 (M Irwin); Bandon 0 Instonians 3 (J Watson, M Irwin, P Gleghorne); Standings: 1. Instonians 4pts (+3); 2. Three Rock Rovers 4pts (+1) 3. Bandon 0pts (-4). IHL Draw 2011/12: Pool A: Glenanne, Banbridge, Cookstown, Monkstown, Cork Harlequins, Instonians. Pool B: Lisnagarvey, YMCA, Pembroke Wanderers, Annadale, Cork C of I, Three Rock Rovers. Women UCC 0 Old Alexandra 4 (R Flinn 3, A Naughton); Ards 4 (H McClurg 2, C Adams, C Brown) Greenfields 1 (M Healy); UCC 2 (M Crowley, A Curran) Ards 1 (B Weir); Old Alexandra 7 (S McCay 2, S Canning, A Budd, E Beatty, K Collins Smyth, S Gleeson) Greenfields 0; Old Alexandra 1 (N Gray) Ards 0; UCC 4 (A O’Regan, K Murphy, F O’Connell, V O’Sullivan) Greenfileds 1 (N McGettigan); Standings: 1. Old Alexandra 9pts (+12); 2. UCC 6pts (0); 3. Ards 3pts (+1) 4. Greenfields 0 pts (-14). IHL Draw 2011/12, Pool A: Hermes, Pegasus, Armagh, UCD, Catholic Institute, Old Alex. Pool B: Ballymoney, Loreto, Railway, Lurgan, Cork Harlequins, UCC. Day 2 UCC roared back into contention at the IHL wildcards at Garryduff as they survived a nervy finale to stun Ards 2-1. The first half provided little in terms of goalmouth incident, with an Olivia Roycroft drag-flick, saved by Ards netminder Naomi McKnight, about as good as it got for either side, though Ards in general held sway during the opening period. College were again missing a slew of first-team players, with Munster U21 Kate Murphy the latest absentee, forcing a number of positional reshuffles. One of those saw Fiona O’Connell, a goal-poaching forward by trade, playing in the unfamiliar position of right-back, but she was arguably the game’s best player, helping to nullify the threat of Ards’ Chloe Brown. The sole blot on O’Connell’s copybook was a missed penalty stroke, coming on 49 minutes. Vicky O’Sullivan – whose clever passing and lay-offs marked her out as one of UCC’s best on the day –  had forced the ball home at the second attempt from a short corner breakdown, but the stroke had already been blown for after her goal-bound shot was illegally blocked. O’Connell went for the bottom right corner from the flick spot and connected cleanly, but McKnight guessed correctly and got down low to make a superb glove save to keep it out. At the other end, Emma White pulled off a neat double save from Caroline Adams and Janice Vaughan at corner time, and any sense that College might regret that earlier miss evaporated five minutes later however, with a goal of stunning quality from Irish international Miriam Crowley. She brilliantly trapped Roycroft’s crash-ball at knee height near the top of the circle, before turning to rifle home an unstoppable upright reverse-stick shot to the roof of the net. Ards nonetheless came back fighting; Adams sprayed the passes around from the back, with Heather McClurg – a two-goal hero against Greenfields the night before – and Hannah Coey also threatening. But it was Irish youth Olympian Brown who provided the primary threat from the left-hand side, and she cut infield before crashing the ball into the circle for Becky Weir to deflty redirect past Emma White in the UCC goal. Brown and Roycroft both then saw yellow within seconds of each other for the same offence – failing to retreat – and with space now opening up, Ali O’Regan did well to retrieve a lost cause by keeping a long ball in play and winning a corner. Roycroft’s absence removed UCC’s drag-flick threat, but instead it was Kilkenny native and former South East U18 representative Aine Curran who stepped up to find the bottom corner with a pinpoint straight hit. College were forced to hang on thereafter – notably when White was forced to play a harmless long ball which came back off an upright, only to be fortunate to find Weir’s foot instead of her stick – but they did just enough. Meanwhile, Old Alex put themselves in an excellent position going into the final day by smashing Greenfields 7-0 at Garryduff. Miles Warren’s charges now have the competition’s only 100% record and a goal difference of +11, meaning a draw against Ards tomorrow will be enough to see them progress. Shirley McCay was again to the fore having ran the show against UCC on Friday night, netting two goals here while the rest were spread around the team via Sarah Canning, Aoife Budd, Emily Beatty, Kate Collins Smyth and Sarah Gleeson. Only a win will do for Greenfields – for whom goalkeeper Sinead Collins had another stormer – tomorrow against UCC if they are to keep their faint hopes alive. Victory for the students will see them progress provided Ards do not overturn Alex. Three Rock Rovers became the first side to progress from the IHL wildcards, booking their place in next year’s tournament thanks to a 1-1 draw with Instonians. Rovers will be glad to be back in the big time having missed out on qualification last term, while Inst know they will be there too provided they can avoid defeat against Bandon tomorrow. They had the best chances of the first half, both of them falling Peter Blakeney’s way, lashing one wide off his open side early on before blazing a reverse over the bar before half-time. Paul Gleghorne had Inst’s best efforts, dragging straight at goalkeeper Stephen West, but it was Rovers who broke the deadlock. An initial drag-flick attempt was blocked down, but Rovers nonetheless managed to quickly work the ball to the back post, where Ross Canning was waiting to deflect past Nigel Skillen. It took Inst less than 60 seconds to reply however, coming at the Dubliners from the tip-off with veteran former Irish international Mark Irwin rounding West in a one-on-one before finishing from a tight angle. A couple of more corners for each side was as good as it got thereafter, Blakeney seeing one reverse-stick effort thwarted by Skillen in unorthodox fashion via his goalkeeper’s mask, but the stalemate saw Rovers leave Cork with a seat at the top table secured for next season. Day 1 Bandon’s Irish Hockey League qualification hopes were dealt a bitter blow as they were undone by a late Three Rock Rovers goal on day one of the wildcard play-offs at Garryduff last night. With the west Cork side finally having hometown advantage after three years of hitting the road without success in this competition, Ger Burns’ side approached this tie with quiet confidence. But it was Rovers who made all the early running, and they went ahead after Bandon defender Mark Deane was sin-binned for taking down an aerial above shoulder-height. The Dubliners made Bandon pay from the resultant corner, Irish U18 Tom Samuel slamming home on the second phase. Rovers won a slew of corners but failed to take advantage, and Bandon gradually grew into the game, deservedly drawing level as Ireland A hitman Ali Smith drove a shot home across the visitors’ goalkeeper Stephen West. The game disintegrated into something of a disciplinary farce thereafter, with sin-binnings for Bandon’s Scott Sullivan (not retreating), Andrew Kingston and Smith (breaking the line at penalty corner), while two Rovers players also saw yellow. Sullivan’s return didn’t last long as he was shown a red card after taking the ball above his shoulder. From the resultant corner, the first phase was broken down but the ball was reversed to the back post for Michael Maguire to touch home in the 65th minute. A frantic last five minutes saw two more yellow cards, both for Three Rock players, but Bandon couldn’t find an equaliser. Bandon must now hope Rovers see off Instonians tomorrow, to leave their clash with the Ulster side on Sunday as a straight shoot-out for the second spot. Meanwhile, Irish international midfield star Shirley McCay gave a consummate performance as Old Alex got their Irish Hockey League wildcard campaign off to a perfect start with a 4-0 defeat of UCC at Garryduff. While McCay was instrumental in giving the Milltown side the upper hand as they pinned the Cork students in their own half during the first 35 minutes, it was her former international colleague Roisin Flinn who took the goalscoring glory, netting a hat-trick. Flinn opened the scoring early on when squeezing the ball home from a tight angle after being allowed to work her way along the baseline, before popping up at the back post to convert a cross for 2-0. With Kate Collins Smyth, Nicola Gray, Sarah Canning and Emily Beatty also impressing, Alex turned the screw once more, forcing a string of good saves from College goalkeeper Emma White, who was deputising for the absent Zoe Cremin. Cremin was one of four College players – including Munster interprovincial trio Ali O’Connor, Eibhlín O’Donoghue and Orla Crowley – who are missing the tournament due to exam commitments. While the weakened students foughht valiantly in their absence, the game was ended as a contest when Aisling Naughton forced the ball home following a goalmouth scramble for a 3-0 lead at half-time. College improved somewhat in the second period, with Irish international Miriam Crowley and her fellow forward schemer Ali O’Regan beignning to get some change from the Alex rearguard. But they lacked a killer touch, and Flinn put a gloss on the scoreline by again netting at the back post to complete her hat-trick. Ards joined Old Alex at the top of the pile after day one as their speed on the break helped them dispose of Connacht champions Greenfields. In a match played on Cork C of I’s newly-laid sand-based pitch, Caroline Adams gave Ards the go-ahead goal, only for Mary Healy to deservedly pull Greenfields level in a tight contest. The stalemate lasted just three minutes though, as Ards caught their opponents on the break to generate the chances for McClung to score twice, before Irish youth Olympian Chloe Brown added a fourth.