Pegasus through to final four as Trinity, Corinthian, C of I and Lurgan land first EYHL2 wins
Pegasus advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s Irish Senior Cup with a dominant performance against Muckross at Grange Road, prevailing 6-1 in the end.
After an early disallowed effort and some good Aoife Glennon stops, Alex Speers guided home from a Shirley McCay corner slap for the opening goal and she added another from play soon after.
Leah Paul scored an open play cracker to make it 3-0 at the end of the first quarter and the advantage was stretched out to 4-0 at half-time.
Becky McMullen got a classy deflection to reduce the deficit in the second half but Pegasus kept plugging away with Lucy McKee ending up with a couple with Niamh McIvor also on the scoresheet.
In EYHL Division 2, Lurgan defied a string a of Covid cases during the week to pick up their first win in Pool 2, beating Queen’s 3-1 to jump into second place in the group.
Jo-Anne Reid was the star netting a double which sees Lurgan add to their two draws.
The win sees them leap-frog Queen’s who also fell behind Cork C of I courtesy of the Garryduff side’s 5-2 success against NUIG. The Cork side were up and running via Clara O’Sullivan’s first quarter goal and this was augmented by another for Anna Collins, set up by Ciara Sexton.
Ailbhe Folan got one back from a corner but Julie Coyne responded in kind from a set piece for a 3-1 half-time lead.
NUIG missed a stroke to cut the gap again and C of I took advantage of the let-off when O’Sullivan got her second. Sexton made it 5-1 before Folan completed the scoring with a super goal from Folan following a solo run.
In Pool 1, Trinity and Corinthian picked up their first wins of the campaign to bolster their chances of reaching the playoff places.
For Corinthian, they won 5-1 away to UCC to move into second place in the group, pulling away in the second half after a very tight first half.
Lauren McGrane put Corinthian 1-0 up in the first 10 minutes but a brilliant run from Caoimhe Perdue from halfway ended with a classy shot from the top of the D for 1-1.
Reds skipper Amber Kinlan, however, restored the UCC lead going into the first break and it remained 2-1 through to half-time. Jessica McGrane put daylight between the sides in the 48th minute from a corner move, a switch right which led to a deflection in.
Both Lauren and Jessica McGrane added their second goals of the game to complete the scoring in the closing quarter.
The healthy win has Corinthian up to second place in the group and within range of leaders Ards if they can win their game in hand.
Trinity are also up to seven points but with a game extra played as corner goals either side of half-time helped them to a 2-0 win over Galway. Valerie Hajek was on the mark before half-time and it was 2-0 via Amy Buttimer.
The next series in EYHL2 will take place on February 12 when the second tier competition reaches its halfway stage.
Women
Irish Senior Cup, quarter-final: Muckross 1 (R McMullen) Pegasus 6 (A Speers 2, L McKee 2, L Paul, N McIvor)
EYHL Division 2
Pool 1: Galway 0 Trinity 2 (V Hajek, A Buttimer); UCC 1 (C Perdue) Corinthian 5 (L McGrane 2, J McGrane 2, A Kinlan)
Pool 2: Cork C of I 5 (C O’Sullivan 2, J Coyne, A Collins, C Sexton) NUIG 2 (A Folan 2); Queens University 1 (E Getty) Lurgan 3 (J Reid 2, C McBride)
