Bandon banish Quins to book final date with UCC

BANDON pulled off the shock result of the hockey season sofar as they downed Cork Harlequins 1-0 to advance to the women’s Munster Senior Cup final.

Quins, who monopolised the trophy from 1996 to 2007, will not be involved on St Patrick’s Day for the second successive season, as Amy Roycroft’s strike capped a famous win at Harlequin Park on Saturday.

Bandon will now face UCC, who have a chance to avenge last season’s final defeat to C of I, after Hollie Moffett hit the only goal in a fractious win over Catholic Institute.

For their part, C of I advanced past Ashton in the plate semi-final, comfortably winning 6-0, with Julie O’Sullivan and Suzy Herbert claiming two each.

Meanwhile, it was a bad weekend for Munster sides in the women’s ESB Irish Junior Cup, as Quins and C of I both succumbed to Leinster opposition.

Quins, conquerors of Pegasus in round two, were outclassed by a Hermes side who were just too pacy and incisive, claiming a 6-1 win at Harlequin Park with Fiona Manning and Aimee Jones O’Connor on target twice.

It was a similarly long day at the office for C of I, who went down 5-2 at home to Loreto, while Railway and Old Alex defeated Armagh and Galway respectively, both on 3-1 scorelines, to make it an all-Leinster semi-final lineup.

Meanwhile, Cork Harlequins’ finishing jinx struck once again as they exited the Irish Senior Cup with a 2-1 defeat by Banbridge in a highly-charged tie at Harlequin Park.

A mixture of awful luck and profligate finishing has cost Quins a number of times this season, and again proved their undoing on Saturday. Goals in each half from Simon Magowan — the first a stunning reverse deflection — settled this tie, with Dan Hobbs replying from a corner late on.

Bann now travel to Cookstown in the last eight, but the other three quarter-final ties were all completed on Saturday.

The most notable of those came at Grange Road, where Glenanne came from behind three times in a thrilling tie with Three Rock Rovers before advancing on penalty strokes, after the sides finished deadlocked at 4-4 at the end of extra-time.

Elsewhere, Pembroke scored three in each half to down Mossley 6-0. Conor Harte claimed two of those, while Vaughan Erasmus got his first for the club. Annadale successfully staved off any hopes of a Corinthian upset, winning 3-1.

Pembroke will host Glens in another titanic Leinster clash in the semi-finals, while the winner of Cookstown’s joust with Bann will welcome Annadale.

Bandon and Cork Harlequins will contest a cup final for the second time this season, after David Smith’s brace helped the former shoot down UCC 2-0 in the Munster Senior Cup semi-final.

It was also a notable weekend for Cookstown, who secured the Ulster men’s title with a 5-3 win at Bangor, while their seconds cruised into the last four of the Irish Junior Cup with a 7-0 dismissal of Raphoe. YMCA are also through after defeating Monkstown 2-1.