Pegasus and Ards to renew Ulster Shield rivalry
ARDS and Pegasus will continue where they left off when they contest the first Denman Ulster Shield semi-final at Stormont next Sunday.
The teams met in the final of the prestigious competition in both of the last two seasons before the EY Irish Hockey League sides were excluded from it.
Three years on, now the topflight clubs have been re-admitted, Pegasus will be aiming for belated revenge after losing to Ards in those two finals, first in a penalty shoot-out and then 3-1.
The second part of the semi-final double-header sees Ulster Elks prepare to face Belfast Harlequins, after they were the last sides to qualify after Saturday’s results.
The Jordanstown side, who are the only team outside the IHL to be left in the tournament, defeated Ballymena 7-0 while Harlequins were 2-0 winners over Lisnagarvey.
Quins left it late though before booking their place in the last four as they scored twice in the last 10 minutes with goals from Rachel Johnston and Abigail Edwards.
Quins, missing several regulars with Irish international Zoe Wilson and striker Jenna Watt among the absentees, had more chances from open play, but lacked the killer instinct in front of goal until they finally made the breakthrough.
Edwards, Claire Weir, Amy Geddes and Gemma Frazer all missed good opportunities as Garvey keeper Leah Crooks pulled off several fine stops.
Garvey looked threatening on the counter attack and it took a fabulous full-length save from Marianne Fox in the home goal to deny former Harlequin Robyn Chambers in the 59th minute.
Almost immediately, Quins broke away and forced a penalty corner which Johnston deflected high into the net from a familiar move.
With virtually the last play of the game, Edwards sealed the win when she swept in Weir’s cross from the right.
Ards were already guaranteed a place in the last four and they warmed up for the Pegasus game with a comfortable 4-0 win over Rainey at Londonderry Park.
Francesca Brown, Faye Kidd, Ali Carson and Becky Weir got the goals against the struggling Ulster Premier League side.
With Pegasus already through, Ulster Elks completed the semi-final line-up with an emphatic win at Ballymena where Ireland World Cup star Megan Frazer got two of the goals.
In the IHL’s second tier, Lurgan kept their slim promotion play-off hopes alive with a 4-3 comeback win over NUIG in Galway, helped by Sarah McClure’s double strike, after her team had trailed 2-0 in the first half.
But Dungannon are out of contention after falling to a 5-2 defeat against Catholic Institute in Limerick where Zoe Henderson and Jill Elliott got the consolation goals after their team had trailed 5-0.
Denman Ulster Shield: Pool A: Queen’s 4 (E McStea, E Getty, T Hastings, J McMaster) Banbridge 1 (O Berry); Pool B: Ards 4 (F Brown, F Kidd, A Carson, B Weir); Pool C: Ballymena 0 Ulster Elks 7 (M Frazer 2, L Paul, H Irwin, J Allen, C Mitchell, S Atkinson); Pool D: Belfast Harlequins 2 (R Johnston, A Edwards) Lisnagarvey 0.
Senior One: Armagh 1 (K Johnston) Portadown 1 (C Porter); CI 1 (L Mercer) Omagh 3 (E Shortt, A Buchanan, D Darragh); Club KV 2 (A Trimble, On the mark: Rachel Johnston helped Harlequins progress
J Orr) Castle 2 (T Munn 2); Coleraine 4 (C McNickle, K Caithness 2, A McGill) North Down 4 (S Lewis, R Murphy 2, R Lucas); Raphoe 3 (Z Tinney, L Patterson, K Love) Priorians 2 (E Allen, J Kennedy)
IHL 2: Pool A: Trinity 6 (C Fullston 2, A Buttimer, I Delamer, A Long, E Markey) Greenfields 0; UCC 3 (A Bourke, E Cripps, A Collins) Corinthian 1 (L McGrane)
Pool B: Catholic Institute 5 (C Moloney 2, K Daly, L Cleary, R Upton) Dungannon 2 (Z Henderson, J Elliott); NUIG 3 (K Codyre, R Heskin, K Langan) Lurgan 4 (S McClure 2, O Gibson, N Barr) IF Belfast Star’s players thought they were in cruise control at the top of the All-Ireland Superleague, on Saturday night Maree gave them a reality check.
The Galway men poured on the pressure from the opening buzzer at La Salle College against a Star side who started sluggishly and found themselves 19-13 down at the end of the first quarter.
They continued to sleepwalk their way to an even greater deficit at the break, trailing 45-26.
Coach Adrian Fulton dished out a rollicking at half-time and Star, largely led by Slovenian Mark Berlic (below), launched a fine fightback.
Only down by seven going into the final quarter, Star moved ahead by three from Berlic and incredibly stretched that lead to 71-67 with just over two minutes remaining.
Back in charge, they nevertheless allowed the game to slip away as they went down 80-74.
Coach Fulton said: “After giving them both barrels at half-time I was very pleased with the spirit the lads showed. They fought very hard and showed real character to get back into the game and give themselves a real chance of winning the game — and Mark Berlic had a lot to do with that.
“But this is a loss that I saw coming down the track because there have been too many games in which we have started too slowly. You can’t give yourself a 20-point deficit and expect to win at this level.
“We have to make better decisions offensively when the ball is in our hands and also I feel our rebounding could have been better.
“I did say before the game that Maree would be tough opponents and maybe people didn’t believe me but that’s how it proved. Look, everybody made mistakes including the coaches so we all have to learn.”
If Star are to remain as the top dogs in the Superleague going into 2019 then they need to win their final game away to Demons in Cork this Saturday night.
Fulton added: “The game against Demons is now a very big game and we will be looking to bounce back immediately. Our captain Conor Johnston has said that he expects our rivals to be licking their lips because we have to go to Cork so it’s up to us to show our character.”