Sothern comfort for Pembroke
The defeat of their senior men’s side in the All-Ireland Club Championship final by Pembroke Wanderers in Dublin yesterday capped off a frustrating and largely unfulfilled campaign.
Having beaten arch-rivals Cork Church of Ireland 2-0 on Saturday to reach this final, Harlequins came into the match filled with reasonable expectations of achieving their aim of qualifying for Europe once more, but they ran into a Pembroke side who simply had the measure of them on the day.
The 3-1 scoreline might tell one story, but the game was a lot closer than it suggests and had they scored one of the two short corners they had when 1-0 down and with 20 minutes to play, the eventual scoreline could have looked a lot different, but they didn’t — and it didn’t.
“We didn’t play badly at all,” Dale said later. “When we were one down I thought we were the more likely team to score and the outcome could have been very different had we scored from one of those two short corners.
“Instead of that, we didn’t score and Pembroke came back down the pitch and scored. But even at that, if we’d scored then, the outcome might have been different.
“Even so, I could not have asked more from the boys than they gave out there and they have given me everything all year. It just didn’t happen for us today and that’s how it goes sometimes. They showed great character.”
The coach highlighted the fact that his team had not, perhaps, put the Pembroke defence under more pressure throughout the 70 minutes and he suggested that had they been able to get in behind the Dublin side’s rearguard on a more regular basis, they might have had more joy.
He also pointed to the irony of the fact that two former Quins players, David and Conor Harte, had been outstanding for Pembroke in goal and in central defence respectively.
“I thought the two boys really added a bit of steel to their defence and no doubt that was a factor in their victory,” he said.
The performances of the Harte twins aside, the Pembroke victory probably had more to do with the display put on by nineteen-year-old striker Alan Sothern, whose two goals set his side on the road to victory.
He looked dangerous from the off when he forced a fine save from Wes Bateman on just three minutes, but his first goal came with just seven minutes gone when he collected a long ball from the influential Tim Lewis and ran at the Cork side’s defence before slapping an unstoppable shot home.
Thereafter the game settled into a pattern whereby Quins dominated possession and tried to be patient as they sought to find holes in the Pembroke defence, but they made no breakthrough before half time.
In fact it was 42 minutes before they had their first serious goal attempt when a snap John Aherne shot was brilliantly saved by David Harte and then the Gash brothers, Richard and Eddie, contrived two chances but couldn’t find the target.
It was at this point, with 44 minutes gone, that Sothern got his second goal when he got on the end of a lofted Gordon Elliot pass and made no mistake with the finish.
Harlequins came straight back and won two short corners, with John Hobbs shooting wide from the first and David Eakins’ shot being saved from the second.
They were to regret those misses because once more, Pembroke came back at them and after Craig Fulton forced an excellent save from Bateman, Tim Lewis found Alan Giles in the circle and his shot didn’t disappoint.
At 3-0 down it was going to be a big ask for Harlequins to come back, but they never gave up and John Hobbs’ goal from a 68th minute short corner was no more than they deserved.
By then their goose was well and truly cooked and Pembroke showed admirable composure to keep them at bay until the hooter.
Their success in the European Cup-Winners trophy aside, Quins have nothing to show for their domestic endeavours this season in both the men’s and women’s games which, given that they contested three finals and a host of semi-finals, is a bitter pill to swallow.
Meanwhile, in the women’s ESB Club Championship final, also played at Belfield yesterday, Pegasus beat Hermes 3-1. Suzanne Beaney (2) and Claire McMahon were on target, while Jenny Burke netted for Hermes.
D. Harte, R. Flannery, R. Gormley, C. Harte, J. Sherriff, A. Sothern, P. Conlon (Capt), I. Symons, J. McInroy, T. Lewis, K. Twomey. Rolling Subs: A. Giles, C. Fulton, G. Elliott, P. Priestley.
W. Bateman, L. d’Alton, P. O’Driscoll, J. Hobbs, S. Nicholson, J. Black (Capt), M. Black, D. Eakins, P. Lombard, R. Gash, D. Lombard. Rolling Subs: E. Gash, J. Aherne, D. Egner, R. Hobbs.
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