Defeat sees Ireland drop to B Division of clubs competition

CORK HARLEQUINS’ campaign in the European Club Hockey Championships in Brussels ended in disappointment yesterday when they went down 2-0 to the host club, Leopold, in their final match.

The defeat effectively means demotion to the B Division of the clubs' championship for Ireland and the current champions, Church of Ireland.

However, coach Donal Kingston last night described the Brussels venture as having been "extremely worthwhile" as a learning experience which will ultimately help the development of hockey at the club.

Harlequins started yesterday's match without Philip Chambers (stomach bug) and the injured John Hobbs and Philip McLoughlin. Richard Gash made a return for some of the game but was obviously not at full fitness.

In the game, the teams were evenly matched, as illustrated by the ultimate short corner count of 5 to 2, and Harlequins did well in midfield where Paul Lombard was outstanding.

The score at half time was 00 but six minutes into the second half Leopold's Denis converted a short corner which left Harlequins chasing the game.

To their credit they never gave up and had a number of chances to level. Jason Black made a number of strong runs from the back to set up Harlequin attacks, but Leopold defended well at the edge of the circle.

While pressing for the equaliser, they were caught on the break in the last minute by Leopold's Toussaint Jerome to leave the Belgian side 2 -0 winners.

It was always going to be difficult for Irish sides to retain "A" division status and this year proved to be no exception.

But Kingston was keen to underline the positives that came out of the tournament for both the club and the players, although he admitted that they had targeted yesterday's match as their only realistic chance of netting a win.

Nevertheless the coach was not overly disappointed in the tournament despite the fact that his side did not register a win and were on the receiving end of a couple of bad beatings.

"It highlighted two things for me: the superior technique these teams have from playing on water-based pitches and the professionalism of most top European sides these days.

"They really are at a different level to us and they have developed a whole range of extra skills from playing on water-based pitches.

"Throw in the fact that they are all semi-professional and you can see what a huge learning curve this has been for us.

"The only thing approaching this we would have experienced is the Irish Club Championships, but this has been at a much higher level and we have learned from it.

"Even small things like the level of gamesmanship these teams use has been an eye-opener.

"But our fitness levels were good and despite some injuries and illness, the players who played all four games did very well.

"Apart from that the attitude and discipline of the players has been excellent and I have no doubt they learned a lot they can apply to their own game in the coming years.

"From the club's point of view we have learned a lot too about the sort of facilities we have to look to develop in the future. All told it was a very worthwhile experience," Kingston said.

Harlequins: W Bateman, M Pedersen, J Black, S Nicholson, J Ahern, B Hayes Curtin, C Brady, J Eakins, E Gash, R Gash, P Lombard, D Lombard, N Bryan, P O'Driscoll, D Egner.