Cork C of I face ‘tough’ Cup test in Ballymoney
Church of Ireland have to travel north to face Ballymoney, who won the cup as recently as 2001 and coach Philip Oakley reckons their second successive cup clash with northern opposition will present a very difficult challenge.
“We beat Ards away in the last round,” he said, “but this represents a much tougher physical contest than that because Ballymoney are a much more experienced side and they will be much harder to break down.”
He says that with players of the calibre of former international goalie Angela Platt and current international defender Bridget McKeever, as well as a host of youth internationals and experienced campaigners like Lauren Barr and Nicky McCaughren, Ballymoney will be formidable opposition, but even so he is not travelling without a degree of hope.
“All our key players are fit and that, allied to the fact we actually beat them in the club championships last year and also that I believe we are a stronger side this year, gives me some confidence that we can go up there and get a semi-final berth.
“Even if they have home advantage, I suppose we were glad we avoided the likes of Hermes in the draw. We beat them 1-0 in the club championships last time and I believe we have closed the gap further on the top teams since then.
“But we will need a good start and cannot afford to lose an early goal as we did against Ards, but our side has come on and we have built on the fact that we reached the semi-finals last year before losing out to Hermes,” he said.
An added incentive for the Church of Ireland side is the fact that they are the only team from the club left in the cup, with the men’s senior and junior sides having been beaten recently, but Oakley says that their focus is simply on putting in a big performance and reaching the semi-finals.
“We are the club’s last hope to do well in one of the cup competitions this season, but we’re drawing on the fact that we made the semis last year and haven’t lost to an Ulster side since last year, but we know it won’t be easy.”
If avoiding Hermes was a bonus for Church of Ireland, it was most certainly not the case for Harlequins who have to travel to Booterstown on Saturday in an attempt to oust the cup holders for the past two seasons.
Rising ‘Quins star Cliodhna Sargent says that this game is certainly their biggest challenge of the season so far, but she says that the team has been putting in a lot of hard work in recent weeks specifically with this match in mind.
“We’ve been working very hard with our coach Darren Collins, as well as with Wes Bateman and John Hobbs who spend a lot of time with us, and we are prepared for a tough game.
“Certainly Hermes are the team to beat right now, but we think we’ve got every bit as much to offer as they do. Certainly they have a lot of class players such as current Irish internationals Linda Caulfield and Fiona Connery, as well as former international Jenny Burke, but we’ve a lot of ammunition too and we think we’re every bit as good,” Sargent said.
Having recently been capped for Ireland during the tour to South Africa, the ‘Quins player says that with the likes of fellow internationals Eimear Cregan and Julia O’Halloran, as well as the experience of Rachel Kohler and Karen Bateman, the Cork side has a lot to offer.
“There is an added challenge in that we have to play them in Dublin, but we have the ability to match them. We have a fantastic team spirit and we all play for each other. It will be a tough one to win, but we believe we can do it,” she said.
In the other two quarter-finals, Pembroke Wanderers take on Lurgan at Serpentine Avenue and Randlestown play Pegasus at the Antrim Forum.
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