Their speed on the turnover was the key factor as they controlled the game, restricting Hermes to sporadic breaks and few corners, to generally control the tie.
They led from pillar to post as Dillon notched up five goals, setting them on their way in the sixth second when she stole the Hermes push-back to score from the right of the circle.
Jenny Burke levelled soon after but Dillon completed her hat-trick a minute into the second half from the game’s first corner. Isobel Joyce made it 4-1 from play two minutes later but Burke struck back instantly, precipitating the first time out of the competition in the 24th minute with the tie poised at 4-2.
Dillon restored the three-goal margin soon after from a corner, second phase which Aine Connery had initially blocked brilliantly but the Hermes woman was on the mark herself in the 27th minute, scrambling home from the centre of the circle.
And when Jenny Burke stole the ball and earned a stroke - which she converted herself – it was game on at 5-4.But Hannah de Burgh-Whyte, taking over the corner duties from Dillon, scored at the second attempt to make it 6-4 and Dillon sealed the title in style with her fifth goal of the tie in the final minute to lift the newly inaugurated Trophy, donated by the MMI Group.
Final: Railway Union 7 (Kate Dillon 5, Hannah de Burgh-Whyte, Isobel Joyce) Hermes 4 (Jenny Burke 3, Aine Connery)
Railway Union: Claire Oubelaide, Isobel Joyce, Kate Dillon, Holly Jenkinson, Claire McGarity, Kate McKenna
Subs: Eimear Dolan, Lisa McCarthy, Hannah de Burgh-Whyte, Ruth Hutchinson, Sarah McDonald, Nicola Evans
Hermes: Emma Gray, Fiona Connery, Aine Connery, Jenny Burke, Elaine O’Neill, Christine Quinlan
Subs: Aoife McCarthy, Aoife Harte, Aisling Keane, Michaela McMullan
* For more of Tristan Seaton-Stedham's photos of the title presentation, click here
6 comments:
go on railway!!!
fantastic result, great final end to end hockey, all who were there really enjoyed it, the atmosphere was electric, railway supporters put up bunting and had balloons etc - great party atmosphere, thank you Paul and Katie for a well organised tournament
Fair plat to Railway but still a bit of a joke with Loreto pulling out
Did anyone see the fun the Alex girls were having on Sunday, even though they were losing they were always cheering/slagging each other and having a great laugh on the bench and the pitch. Hermes were quite a bit stronger than them but they kept going until the final whistle.
when you enter the indoor you are away that you are committing to two weekends, to play the first weekend and then pull out is not good enough, its not fair on the teams that did not qualify because of loreto, Alex did not have there first choice team out on sunday, but still turned up to play, fair play to them, on the mens side Monkstown knew they were out of the comp. on sat, so did not bother their backsides turning up on sunday, - both clubs should be fined, Irish hockey should not let them away with it -
No one had their first choice team out.. Not even Railway or Hermes had their first team available to them. However, Railway/Hermes/Alex did not have their 2s playing up North in the IJC that day. Which was a refix that could not have been anticipated by Loreto.
The problem is that the hockey calendar has become a nightmare to navigate for clubs. The IHL is fantastic but the powers-that-be have added 5 weekends of hockey into an already packed hockey calendar. Then when things change with the Irish team, they just go and rearrange half the major fixtures halfway through the season. And when you add in the refixes necessary as a result of "The Big Freeze", things just get out of control!!
If anyone should be fined I think it's "Irish Hockey"!! Shave a few fixtures off the calendar please, reduce the no teams in Division 1, reduce the no teams in the Jacqui Potter Cup, do whatever you think is best but please cut back some fixtures so that we're not playing double weekends almost every weekend of the season!!! Including Christmas week for god's sake!!
A frustrated non-Loreto/non-Monkstown Player
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