Men's Celtic Cup: Day Two

Ireland 2 Scotland 2

Irish failings from the Setanta Trophy reappeared today at Garryduff as they let a 2-0 half-time lead slip to give a young Scottish side a share of the spoils on the second day of the Celtic Cup.
Two penalty corner goals – one deflected home by Tim Lewis and one straight from John Jermyn’s stick – saw the Irish in control with Mitch Darling looking dangerous while Ronan Gormley and Conor Harte’s long-range passes looked set to unlock the Scottish defence throughout.

But the second half was a different matter entirely. The Scots – perhaps getting used to their new equipment after half their gear did not arrive with their flight from Edinburgh – had one back within 24 seconds of Ireland’s second half restart. A steal on the halfway set Joe Simpson racing down the left wing and his sweet cross had sliding Scottish players queuing up to net, Wei Adams the grateful recipient.

Mikey Watt created a chance to restore the two-goal lead but, after creating a three-on-one with some excellent skills on the half-way, decided to shoot himself when Darling and Eugene Magee on either side would have been better options.

As the game began to open out, both sides let quality chances slip. Douglas Simpson was foiled by the save of the match from Iain Walker, Darling flashed over, soon followed by Simpson’s delicate lob dropping just too late.

That chance preluded Scotland’s leveler. Karl Burns got in a tangle on the right side and was robbed to force Ireland into a corner concession which Adam McKenzie buried for 2-2 with three minutes left.

There was still time, though, for David Hobbs to see yellow and Stephen Butler to provide an inch-perfect overhead for Eugene Magee to score an unlikely winner with mere seconds remaining. But, after a superb mazy run, the Banbridge man sliced over. It means, Ireland top the group going into the final round, needing a win over Wales to claim the title.

France 5 Wales 4

A rejuvenated France nicked a win to keep their Celtic Cup hopes in tact when Thibaut Blondel scored with just 12 seconds to go to edge a nine-goal thriller. The French looked far sharper early on, racing into a 3-1 lead by half-time. Blondel’s goal to make it 2-0 was the pick as he dribbled aerially through a packed circle before placing the ball neatly over Iwan Williams shoulder.

An exchange of drag-flicks from Frederic Verrier and Friday’s hat-trick hero, Rick Gay, brought the game to 4-2 with over 25 minutes remaining.

Wales began to dominate with Huw Jones’ skills causing all sorts of problems. His reverse, though, looked to be going wide before Maxime Wilson’s glove pulled the ball goalwards to narrow the deficit and penalty corner sweep from James Hughes leveled matters.
And in the final ten minutes, the free-running Welsh gave a master class in missing as they created numerous opportunities to win, Dave Griffiths the most culpable.

His miss from two yards after outstanding build-up play from Jones and Lewis Prosser proved their last. A Welsh sin-binning 150 seconds from the end saw the French surge forward for Blondel to net his second of the match as the French stay alive despite Friday night’s mauling.