Ladies through to Cup Qtrs, Men just miss out

There was disappointment for the Men’s 2nds in the Irish Junior Cup after going out to a golden-goal following a 3-3 thriller in Serpentine on Saturday. Corinthians were never behind in the tie, indeed they were 2-0 up at half time, but a late 3rd goal from Pembroke suggested they were in the ascendancy heading into a dramatic extra time period.

Justin Sherriff had netted twice for the home side to get back into the tie, before Corinthians took what seemed too be the winner toward the end of normal time. Gordon Elliot popped up though to dramatically send the tie into overtime, but Pembroke hearts were broken within the first few minutes with Corinthians claiming the vital score.

The Ladies had a slightly easier time of it against UCD 2nds directly afterwards. Last time the sides met was in the league before Christmas which saw a competitive game with Pembroke running out 3-0 winners.

The opening 15 minutes of the game saw the ladies dominate possession and territory. The back four dictating play and setting up a good attacking platform. Viv Fenton continued her fine run of form breaking infield and causing the UCD defense all sort of problems. Some great baseline play and quick movement through midfield saw a couple of chances go astray. Anna O’Grady and Sue Ryan linked up to win a corner which saw the Pembroke corner machine doing what it does best…score putting the ladies ahead thanks to Rachel McGrath, 1-0! However the short corner to goals ratio only frustratingly declined for the remaining 70 mins. With a couple of straight strikes flashing wide and one clipping the inside of the keeper’s pad which went agonizingly close past the post.

After an impressive first half display, the sort that has only seen them lose one game in the league, one couldn’t be blamed for thinking the ladies would run out easy winners. However that was not to be the case. A 2-0 lead came through some nice build up play and a close finish by Sue Ryan after Anna O’Grady had done all the hard work. UCD got a bit of fire in their bellies a combination of crash balls and pressing hard created a half chance which was nicely taken. Anna O’Grady grabbed the game by the game by the scruff of the neck and made some explosive carving runs through the heart of the UCD defense which unfortunately lacked the finishing qualities needed. The game became frantic in the last 10 minutes with turnover after turnover amid the monsoon conditions and end to end attacking with no real venom. Thankfully the defense which has concede 0.833 goals a game this season held firm to progress to the quarter finals.

A quick thank you to the great support on the balcony, sidelines and bar looking forward to seeing you all donning the purple for the Qtr Final tie at home against Galway on Feb 25th.