Walking in an Insta wonderland

The 21-year wait for women’s Munster Senior Cup glory is over for Catholic Institute, who left it late to eventually see off Cork Harlequins 5-2 in an entertaining final at Garryduff on Saturday. Claire Sullivan set the tone early on with a cross-shot that tipped the crossbar, before Quins keeper Vanessa Sargent was forced into a point-blank save from Rosie Pratt. Elaine Bromell then lashed home a corner on 20 minutes and a diving Kym Daly connected with Pratt’s cross 90 seconds later to seemingly put Institute in control, but Quins rallied after the break. Johanna Hyland beat Ciara Ronan down her left-hand side with an improvised short corner strike of real quality, before Rachel McSharry did likewise with a swept effort two minutes later to suddenly haul Quins level. But Institute, for whom teenage midfielder Roisin Upton was playing her fifth game in three days following her All-Ireland Schoolgirls Championships exploits with Crescent, regained their composure when it mattered, with Naomi Carroll in particular to the fore. Again, the goals came in a spurt; Eimear Cregan blasted home from a switched corner five minutes from time, then finished off Katie Campbell’s excellent baseline work to seal the result. And the Limerick girls put the icing on the cake with the last act of the game, Caroline Hutchinson collected a corner rebound and planted home a rocket with the game’s final act. For Quins, there was a semblance of injustice with their skipper and star performer Cliodhna Sargent ruled out of the showpiece due to the Irish women’s squad’s central preparation programme rest requirements. Similarly, Railway Union and UCD also had to do without their Irish internationals for their Jacqui Potter Cup final showdown earlier this month, and it had long been flagged that internationals would not be available this weekend . Nonetheless, there was no denying a sense of grievance from neutrals and Quins sympathisers alike that such an influential player could not be in situ for a final. That won’t bother Institute too much though. They celebrated with relish, and will now turn their attentions to picking up the two points they need to annex the league title too, which they’ll be confident of doing away to Belvedere on Saturday. The Ballincollig outfit’s need is equally great after a dramatic result in Limerick over the weekend. UL have amazingly pulled themselves off the bottom of the women’s league table after a goal from former Munster U18 Steph Peters gave them a 1-1 draw with Cork C of I. Nicola Kerr had forced home the opener from a short corner breakdown, but despite monopolising possession, C of I couldn’t make it count on the scoreboard and Peters picked up a long ball to nab an equaliser just before half time. C of I threw the kitchen sink at UL in the second half but the students held out. Their defeat by fellow strugglers Belvedere last month had left them facing an uphill struggle to avoid relegation. However, they have now leapfrogged Belvedere by a point, meaning the Ballincollig side now have the unenviable task of trying to take points off Institute and Bandon in their final games. Meanwhile, UCC kept the title race mathematically alive and gave their own Irish Hockey League qualification hopes a shot in the arm with a 3-1 win at Bandon, with Alis O’Regan and O’Connor doing the damage while Ciara McCarthy replied for the hosts. College are not home and hosed for an automatic qualification spot yet, however. They lead Cork Harlequins by five points but Quins have two games in hand, meaning a lot will rest on the two sides’ meeting at the Mardyke on Saturday. Bandon are not mathematically out of the mix yet either, but at this stage will be hoping for a College win which would enable the west Cork girls to try draw closer to Quins and make their last-day clash with the Farmers Cross side a straight shootout for a wildcard spot. Elsewhere, there was Irish Trophy semi-final  heartbreak for Ashton, as goals from Karen Stokes and Caroline McCarthy weren’t enough to prevent them going down 3-2 at Portadown. Women ESB Electric Ireland Irish Hockey Trophy, semi-finals Portadown 3 (S Hill 2, S Guiney) Ashton 2 (C McCarthy, K Stokes); Three Rock Ladies 2 (L Maguire, B Charmant) Lisnagarvey 3 (N Kess, K McQuillan); Munster Senior Cup final Cork Harlequins 2 (J Hyland, R McSharry) Catholic Institute 5 (E Cregan 2, E Bromell, K Daly, C Hutchinson); Munster Div 1 UL 1 (S Peters) Cork C of I 1 (N Kerr); Bandon 1 (C McCarthy) UCC 3 (A O’Connor, A O’Regan, AN Other)