Monday, March 2, 2009

Holders Hermes to face double-chasers in Jacqui Potter final

Railway Union 1 (Kate Dillon) UCD 1 (Fiona Bradish) Railway win 3-1 on penalties

The double-dream stayed alive as Railway Union beat UCD on penalty strokes to reach their first Jacqui Potter cup final since 2006. The students were their opponent's that day, too, and ended up victorious but stripped of the services of Roisin Flinn and Lisa Jacob, were unable to repeat their penalty stroke victories over Loreto and Hermes in the ISC.

The pair were not released from afternoon Irish training in time for the 4.45pm tip-off time but Fiona Bradish did give UCD the lead from an excellent break-out goal.

Kate Dillon (pictured taking on Liz McInerney) responded from the second phase of a short-corner but neither side could score again either in the second half or extra-time, especially thanks to the superb work of Grace O'Flanagan.

UCD got the early advantage in the penalty competition when Jean McDonnell shot wide but Helen Stevenson saved twice and another UCD effort hit the post. Strokes from Dillon, Hannah de Burgh-Whyte and Emer Lucey took the win.

Bray 0 Hermes 3 (Jenny Burke, Sinead McDonnell, Anna O'Flanagan)
Hermes denied Bray a first-ever Leinster senior cup final day-out, winning 3-0 in Wicklow. The experienced Jenny Burke netted the opener with Sinead McDonnell and Anna O'Flanagan adding to the tally.

Hermes now go into their fourth final in the past five years hoping to repeat last year's victory over Trinity.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Come on Hermes two in a row ... interesting game ahead on Paddies day Reckon Hermes will beat railway on the day. 2-0.. Jenny burke looking back to form and the 'youngster's look really comfortable Niamh Acherler at the back is a very fine prospect for the future..

Anonymous said...

IT would be three in a row actually!

Anonymous said...

any more pics from the matches?!

Anonymous said...

why were emma gray and mary goode aloud to play at 4 but lisa jacob and roisin flynn wernt able for a tipoff 45mins later again?! surely that makes nooo sense?!

Anonymous said...

yeh what's gene playing at?

Stephen Findlater said...

As regards pics, I have only got two from the Railway vs UCD game to hand at the moment. If anything else comes in, I'll post them

Anonymous said...

I was at the UCD Railway game, was a great hockey spectacle, end to end stuff!
Lisa Jacob and Roisin Flinn not being released from Irish training was very unfair, particularly when it went to strokes as both would normally take strokes for UCD. So fair play to the rest of the squad.
Well done Railway. Cup final should be a good game.

Anonymous said...

I watched the UCD V Railway game too. It was a great match and UCD should be very proud of the super performance they put in, especially given they were missing their 2 internationals. Railway were lucky to come away with the win! Can't wait until these 2 sides meet agin in the league. UCD have the beating of them I say!

Anonymous said...

lisa jacob did take a stroke, and herself and roisin were infact there from the beginning of the warm-up but remained on the sideline, not too sure why......

Anonymous said...

The Irish camp ended before the warm up for the railway ucd match but gene would not allow the girls to play.

Anonymous said...

Roisin Flinn definitely played for at least one period in the game. Lisa Jacob took the opening flick. No mention of all the cards on the day - students need to control themselves a bit better methinks

Anonymous said...

Roisin Flinn didn't play at all. Lisa Jacob did take a stroke, but didn't play any of the game. Her name was on the match card which allowed to her to take a stroke. Cards were given to both teams if i remember correctly.

Anonymous said...

Emma Gray did not play for Hermes v Bray, they had a girl called Yvonne. Mary G did play for Bray.

Anonymous said...

ucd got more cards than railway but not sure why....some railway players got 'spoken to' instead of getting cards which is pretty unfair. the majority of the cards were for decent to the umpires...

Anonymous said...

Emma Gray was injured and didnt train all weekend, although she was allowed to play.

Anonymous said...

As a neutral I decided to watch the Railway vs UCD game, as I thought that would be the better of the two games. I was not disappointed. Both teams displayed great hockey skill and heart in two very different styles. I thought UCD did themselves proud. They continued to play their hockey, despite being disrupted by opinion against them, and kept their heads while other teams would have crumbled. They played all the honest and positive hockey. The only signs of decent I saw were some exclamations after a swipe with the stick on Holly Jenkinson, which I think deserved some time for reflection. I hope she's OK, I was very surprised when she got up. For UCD I thought she and their right back (who I'm afraid I don't know the name of) played very well in defense, while Rachel Burke was very strong and persistent in her attack and defence (despite being yellow carded for that strengh and persistence) and Fiona Bradish lead well as captain (a moment in her career she should look back on and be proud of). For Railway I thought Jean Mc Donnell and Lucy Smyth earned all the praise they've been getting this year. The speed of their attack was something to behold. Emer Lucey was very incisive in defence as well as Helen Stevenson in goal, a great signing for them. I thought in the end Railway (if anyone) probably deserved the win with more time in UCD's 25 and more short corners, but I was disappointed to hear Railway fans cheers after the UCD flick taker hit the post. Hopefully as the team starts winning more in the future, as I'm sure they will, their fans will learn how to behave in these situations.
MM

Anonymous said...

In answer to the neutral hockey supporter at the railway v ucd game, the reason the supporters cheered was because their team had just made it into the final, Railway are not like other teams that both players, supporters and umpires do not like going to there ground

Anonymous said...

I was at the Railway v UCD game and found it great hockey, have watched a few of the UCD games and have to say was disappointed with the whincey attitude they are adopting - you don't need to do that, they are a lovely team and to be honest it was anyones game, right up to the final stroke. To both coaches - there were way too many cards - felt umpires should have thrown away the green card - 7 of these in total I think - get the yellow card out and cut out the crap and get on with the game.

Anonymous said...

Cup Final - 1pm Grange Road - Hermes v Railway - Hermes have a wealth of experience - Railway do not - but Railway are on a roll & have beaten Hermes twice already this season and while Im aware that cup is different I still would love to see Railway raise the cup - but will they???????

Anonymous said...

Cup Final - 1pm Grange Road - Hermes v Railway - Hermes have a wealth of experience - Railway do not - but Railway are on a roll & have beaten Hermes twice already this season and while Im aware that cup is different I still would love to see Railway raise the cup - but will they???????

Anonymous said...

Had to look up the hockey results in the Irish Times to find out Leinster League results for the weekend in the ladies section. Surprising that you haven't kept abreast of this Stephen - usually you're the one first with news and results. For those interested, Railway beat Corinthians 4-0 away, meaning they need three more wins from five matches to be guaranteed the league title for the first time in their club's history.

Stephen Findlater said...

Just in response to March 3, 2009 2:33 PM, I posted this on Sunday afternoon:

http://hookhockey.blogspot.com/2009/02/womens-division-one-trinity-1-pembroke.html

Unfortunately the headline was misleading and so therefore I apologise for the mistake.