Harlequins lose to Scottish side Kelburn in European Cup

CORK Harlequins had mixed fortunes at the European Cup Winners Trophy tournament in Vienna over the weekend, winning two pool games and losing their last outing.

Having beaten Olten of Switzerland on Friday, the Cork side swept Collegians of Gibraltar aside on Saturday. The Mediterranean side had lost 9-0 to Scottish side Kelburne and the onus was on Harlequins to match that scoreline, which they duly did. Goalscorers for Harlequins in their 9-0 rout were David Eakins (five), Richard Gash (two), David Egner and John Hobbs. It meant the Cork side faced into their final group game yesterday against Kelburne in good heart, but they lost 2-1.

“We didn’t make the most of our chances, and they did,” said Harlequins manager Donal Kingston.

“We had seven short corners and scored from one, while they had four short corners and scored from two. We started off well and the first half was pretty even, if anything we probably had the better opportunities from play.”

Kelburne timed their goals well. Their first came within a minute of the half-time break and they added a second within three minutes of the restart.

“We had to go after the game at that stage and attack all out, and we eventually pulled one back through David Eakins from our fourth short corner. We had three more, and six of them were on target but they defended successfully and held out.”

Today Harlequins take on Royal Dragons HC of

Belgium at 1pm. Kingston is under no illusions about the size of their task, as the Belgian outfit are the top ranked side in the tournament.

“Yes, they’re ranked number one and we’re ranked third, but as it stands we have nothing to lose. They probably have a further advantage in that two Irish internationals, Justin Sheriff and Steve Butler, have playing with them for the last few seasons, so they’ll be pretty familiar with us.”

Still, Kingston and his charges are happy with the weekend overall.

“We can’t be relegated, so it’d be a bonus to be promoted, based on tomorrow’s play-off. In a sense it’s mission accomplished for us, our aim coming out was to be in with a chance of promotion at the end of the weekend, so it’ll be a bonus if we win tomorrow.”

Pegasus of Northern Ireland also had a mixed weekend in the ladies section. They beat Austrian side Akademischer HTC 5-1 and Lorenzoni of Italy 6-0, though they lost to Smolevci of Belarus 2-0.

They face Spanish side RC Polo de Barcelona in their play-off game this morning at 8.