Men's Celtic Cup: Darling double delight

Mitch Darling’s double was the key contribution as his amazing start to his international career, claiming the player of the tournament title, as Ireland took the Celtic Cup off Wales’ hands.
After Scotland’s twice rain-delayed 1-0 win over France, Ireland needed just a draw to take the title but ended up with a 3-1 win despite a hairy patch where they nearly relinquished a winning position for a second successive day.

A lively Irish start, with Ronan Gormley and John Jermyn flying down the right wing bore fruit in the 15th minute, with Darling banging Jermyn’s pull-back under Lee Ible. Ireland’s early momentum soon faded, though, as the Wales midfield gained the upper hand with Huw Jones and Lewis Prosser getting on top against four different centre midfield opponents.

Andy Cornick almost snuck one past David Harte, the goalie adding the save to a stunning stop from Dave Griffiths. An extended half-time break – due to another downpour for Garryduff’s excellent grounds man, Brian Cullimore, to mop up with the super-soaker borrowed from nearby Fota Golf Club – could not break the Welsh charge.

Captains Jones and Gormley were both binned for some ongoing niggle before Matt Ruxton tied the game up. He was the beneficiary of a superb move. James Hughes defence-splitter found Ben Rogers inside the full-back who laid on for Ruxton to flick in at Harte’s near post.

David Hobbs was then given an enforced rest for a second time in the tournament for delaying play which, conversely, coincided with Ireland’s best period of possession.

Entering the final ten minutes, the next goal was likely to decide the title. And so it proved when Stephen Butler’s inch-perfect overhead found Darling behind the last defender. He controlled, rounded Ible on his open side to crack in from the top of the circle for the decisive strike, though his follow-through unfortunately caught Hughes with a blow to the face, producing a nasty injury. Timmy Cockram added a third in the closing minutes from a corner to copper-fasten the title for the hosts.