Quins and C of I land tough Cup draws

CORK Harlequins and Church of Ireland both qualified for the quarter-finals of the ESB Irish Senior Women’s Cup after extra-time scares against Loreto and Ards respectively on Saturday, but both landed extremely tough away games in the quarter finals.

‘Quins looked to be cruising against the Leinster league leaders at Farmers Cross when they took a 3-0 lead, but the Dublin side fought back bravely to level things up with three second-half goals.

Karen Bateman opened the scoring for the home side after just seven minutes and was then set up by Julia O’Halloran for a second on 13 minutes.

They took that 2-0 lead into the break and extended it eight minutes into the second period when a penalty corner move saw Eimear Cregan feed Bateman who quickly gave the ball back for Cregan to score with a blistering shot.

The Loreto comeback began there and then and just four minutes later an Orla Ryan run eventually resulted in Irish international Cathy McKean opening their account. They then got a penalty corner in the 27th minute and a fierce Caitriona

Tipping shot found the net to bring the score to 3-2.

In the dying moments, Loreto took a calculated gamble by taking off their goalie Louisa Healy for another forward and it paid off when an Oral Ryan free from the edge of the home team’s circle was finished clinically by McKean to level matters.

Into extra time then and ‘Quins finally killed Loreto off when a Jan Dillon free found Cregan lurking at the top of the circle and her shot and the ‘golden goal’ which resulted won the tie.

Church of Ireland had a tough game away to Ards and their task was not made any easier when their hosts scored after just two minutes when a direct shot from a short corner deflected off Deirdre Casey’s stick into her own net.

However C of I levelled things up three minutes later through Julie O’Sullivan.

The game finished all square at full time, but neither side made use of extra time or penalty strokes. After five stokes apiece the score was 4-4 and the contest went into sudden death which C of I eventually won 7-6.

Other results saw Randlestown beat UCD 0-1, Pegasus beat Belfast Harlequins 4-1, Hermes beat Old Alex 1-2, Pembroke beat Armagh 2-1, Lurgan beat Corinthians 1-2 and Ballymoney beat Railway Union 3-2. The draw for the quarter-finals now pitches Harlequins against Hermes, while C of I have to travel to Ballymoney. In the other ties, Randlestown will host Pegasus, while Pembroke will entertain Lurgan.