UCC finally end varsity quest

UCC won an emotional inter-varsity title on home turf at the Mardyke yesterday, ousting University of Ulster on penalty strokes after a tense 1-1 stalemate. The Mauritius Cup will reside in Cork for just the second time in their history — the other was won in 1995 — and rounds off a memorable year for the club who won their first  national senior crown, the Irish Hockey Trophy, in April. It also ends a three-year quest for the crown; in 2010 they were controversially dumped out by DCU in the semi-finals then saw neighbours CIT win the decider, before being tonked by UCD in last year’s final.

Having seen DIT dump holders UCD out in the group stage to take over the favourites’ mantle, the Cork hosts did a number on the Dubliners in the semi-finals, winning 3-1 thanks to two Fionn O’Leary strikes and a cracker from Nigel Bateman. That  setup a clash with the Belfast men, for whom goal machine Jordan Robinson had struck twice to hold off the  challenge of Trinity. Shrew Power gave UCC a 15th-minute lead but that was  cancelled out by Ricky O’Neill’s  second-half drag-flick. Golden goal extra time loomed, with Andy Gray making an excellent high goal-line clearance to keep UCC alive. College were spot-on with their strokes, nailing all five to prevail 5-3 in the shoot-out. Fittingly, the decisive flick was taken by Gray, who finally has a varsity medal to his name after nine years of trying, which  included final defeats in the colours of both CIT and UCC. UCD made it three Chilean Cups in a row as they strolled past surprise  finalists Queens on a 4-0 scoreline. The Belfielders, backboned by nine Irish senior internationals, prevailed via a brace from Jeamie Deacon and one each for Caroline Hill and Emily Beatty. Queens had qualified for the last four as a best runner-up to UCC in Pool B, but shocked a hotly-fancied UU side 1-0 to make the decider, while UCD saw off the hosts 2-0. There was some further silverware for Munster as CIT’s women – short on players but with Cork Harlequins duo Cliodhna Sargent and Yvonne O’Byrne orchestrating things – routed Trinity 5-0 to take the women’s plate. Trinity had previously ended UL’s hopes, Eanna Horan’s goal giving them a slender 1-0 win in the plate semis. The tournament is set to move to a new format in 2013, with 12 colleges forming two six-team divisions. This is to help alleviate the lop-sides scorelines from recent years, as Irish-international laden sides chased the goal difference boosts they needed against teams featuring complete beginners. Intervarsities 2012, finals day Men’s Mauritius Cup Final: UCC 1 (Shrew Power) UU 1 (Ricky O’Neill) (aet, UCC win 5-3 on penalty strokes). Semi-finals: UU 2 (Jordan Robinson 2) TCD 0; UCC 3 (Fionn O’Leary 2, Nigel Bateman) DIT 1 (Richard Sykes). 5th/6th: UCD 6 DCU 4; Plate final: QUB 3 CIT 0; Plate semi-finals: CIT bt UL; QUB 10 ITT 2; 11th/12th: RCSI 4 (David Storey 2, Andrew Sutton 2) Skull and Crossbones 4 (Dylan Stokes 2, Phi Brennan, David O’Farrell) (aet, S&C win 5-4 on penalty strokes).