Pembroke and Old Alex will contest the Jacqui Potter Cup final on St Patrick's Day as the former produced their best performance to date this season to beat in-form Hermes while the Alex had too much in the tank for Corinthian.
Pembroke led from start to finish against Hermes in their 4-2 win at St Andrew's, powered forward by Natalie Fulton and taking their chances when they came, ending with an excellent corner record of three from four.
Rachel McKeon notched up the one from play with a neat finish after the ball broke to her near the top of the circle to make it 1-0, picking the right ball to hit home after a leftover ball from the warm-up had somehow remained on the pitch.
Karen Hales battered in a corner on the stroke of half-time to build a decent lead, starting a run of five goals from set plays. Christine Quinlan shot home to give Hermes a lifeline but Hales restored the advantage with yet another corner hit, this time taking a deflection en route to the roof of the net.
Elaine O'Neill touched home a switch move for 3-2 but Sarah Clarke had the final impact on the scoresheet with yet another piledriver from a short corner to complete the Ballsbridge club's biggest win of the season.In between times, recently elevated goalkeeper Kelly Scott pulled off a string of fine saves for the visitors to keep their lead in tact and, on the final whistle, proved the focus of the raptured Pembroke celebrations.
Old Alex had a slightly more comfortable ride, scoring a goal in each in half to keep alive hopes of a first Leinster senior title since the late 1990s.
Influential American Roz Ellis opened the deadlock with a fine goal, beating a player at the circle's edge before scoring from a tight angle. Siobhan Burke had earlier pulled off an excellent diving stick-save but she was powerless to prevent Corinthian from falling behind.
The reds came out stronger in the second half, enjoying a ten-minute purple patch, testing Barbara Luke but when Jenny Heggie was sin-binned for a stick-tackle, the momentum abated and Alex took full advantage.
Nicola Gray saw a corner bash take a deflection into the goal's netting to make it 2-0 and confirm their place in a surprise final pairing.Results:
Hermes 2 (Christine Quinlan, Elaine O'Neill) Pembroke 4 (Karen Hales 2, Rachel McKeon, Sarah Clarke); Old Alex 2 (Roz Ellis, Nicola Gray) Corinthian 0
* For more of Deryck Vincent's photos from the Hermes vs Pembroke game, click here.
11 comments:
Amazing work from kelly, absolutely on form!! well done pembroke, great work rate by every single player well deserved win
how did hermes play? I heard Pembroke played very well, hopefully this will be the beginning of a turnaround to their season
Delighted to see two different teams in the final on st.patricks day!
things are more open in the women's league than they looked then?
this isn't league. It's cup. There's always potential for upsets in cup competitions
what was the story with railway mens and womens 1xi teams and goalposts on saturday?
railway's goal was vandilised so atches were postponed until it could be fixed...the mens 1 XI match went ahead just a little late... railway girls played away in corrithians.
but did you know that glenanne had to fix the goal so that the match could go ahead, as for the ladies the goals in corinthians had to be replaced because the sideboards were made of metal and not wood and the metal was coming away from the side and someone could have been badly injured - why would a club have goals in such bad repair?
who is the new goalkeeper for Pembroke?
Its hidden in the article!! Kelly Scott.
yes her name is there, but who is she? Where did she come from and what happened to the other keeper, Jayne Coyne?
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