Mighty Blues Do The Double
Cork Harlequins A - 4 (2) Church of Ireland A - 5 (2)
There were scenes of great joy in a freezing Harlequin Park last Saturday when CI A retained the Munster Senior Cup to complete a league and cup double.
A Jonathan Bruton golden goal in the 4th minute of extra time proved to be winner in what was a scrappy and ill tempered cup final.
CI were never behind in the game and took the lead in the 10th minute through Bruton. In the 28th minute Paul O' Leary doubled the lead when he deflected home a David Hobbs shot.
No sooner had the celebrations died down when Quinns hit back to reduce the deficit to a singel goal. Five minutes later they were back on level terms after converting a penalty corner just before half time.
The pace and intensity of the game was raised a notch on the resumption of the second half. Neither team was giving an inch. The pivotal moment in the game occured early in the second half when a Harlequins player received a straight red card when he appeared to strike out at David Hobbs. However Quinns played the better hockey with ten men and dominated the game for long periods of the second half.
However in the 46th minute CI broke quickly on the counter attack and a goal mouth scrambled ensued. From this scramble CI were awarded a penalty stroke which Philip Smith duly converted to make it 3-2.
Quinns were back on level terms two minutes later when from a penalty corner they were awarded a penalty stroke which they converted.
In the 56th minute CI were back in front once again when Philip Smith converted a Nigel Buttimer pass. For the remainder of the game the ten men of Quinns applied a lot of pressure on the CI goal. CI keeper Billy Lynch had to be at his brillant best when making a number of smart saves.
However in the 63rd minute there was little he could do about a switched drag flick that nestled in the bottom corner of the CI goal to tie the game up for the fourth time and send it into extra time.
Jonathan Bruton proved to be the CI hero when he slotted home the golden goal winner in the 4th minute of extra time. The goal came about when from a David Hobbs cross Bruton reacted the quickest to force the ball past the helpless Quinns keeper from close range.
CI From: Billy Lynch, Andrew Whittaker, Andrew Chambers, Adam Pritchard, Nigel Buttimer, David Hobbs, Alec Moffett, Philip Smith, Andy Herbert, Jonathan Bruton, Trevor Dunne, Stephen Parker, David Harvey, Andrew Gray, Paul O' Leary and Andrew Daunt.