Railway retain women’s National Indoor Trophy crown

Women’s National Indoor Trophy final
Railway Union 7 (S Patton 2, L Lloyd 2, M Carey, O Fox, O Patton) Ards 3 (A Desneaux 2, A Benson)
Railway Union won the women’s National Indoor Trophy for the third successive edition as their international stars proved too hot to handle for Ards at Gormanston Park.

They were out of the blocks quickly with Orla Fox producing some very smart individual skills to go around two tackles, zig-zagging in before whipping her shot.

Ards forced a couple of good stops form Mary-Kate Tierney in the Railway goal soon after while Caroline Adams cleaned a Sarah Patton shot off the line in a lively, end-to-end spell.

Patton did double the lead in the second quarter, finishing off an excellent move via Fox and Kate McKenna and they held that 2-0 advantage into half-time with Jenny Long’s corner effort disallowed after a post-hooter discussion.

Ards fought back in the second half with Amy Benson surging through the middle to cut the gap in half. 

But some quickfire work from Railway soon had the game spinning their way. Michelle Carey’s driving run ended with her rounding the goalkeeper and popping in for 3-1. Next time, she laid off a pass to her right out of traffic to Lily Lloyd who scored.

Holly Jenkinson set the fifth in motion, passing to Patton who squared to Lloyd to tap in her second. Andrea Desneaux pulled one back from a corner but both Orla and Sarah Patton scored for Railway to make it 7-2. 

Desneaux got another corner late on but Railway were well clear to continue their run as national champions.

Earlier in the day, Ards made it through to the final in dramatic style as they edged out Muckross 2-0 in a shoot-out after normal time had ended 3-3 with Desneaux grabbing a late equaliser.

Railway had a more comfortable passage to the final with a 10-3 win over Galway. Muckross took third place with a 7-4 win over Galway.

Ards: N McKnight, K Kimber, A Desneaux, N Grundie, A Benson, C Adams

Subs: E Robinson, B Kirk, F Brown

Railway Union: M-K Tierney, H Jenkinson, O Fox, O Patton, L Lloyd, S Patton

Subs: K McKenna, K Lloyd, M Carey A Long, J Long, H de Burgh White

 

Women’s National Indoor Trophy results

Semi-finals: Ards 3 (A Benson, K Kimber, A Desneaux) Muckross 3 (J Balcerzak 2, S Barnwell), Ards win shoot-out 2-0; Railway Union 10 (S Patton 3, L Lloyd 2, K Lloyd, H Jenkinson, H de Burgh Whyte, O Fox, K McKenna) Galway 3 (R Dillon, E Carey, A Manley)

Third place playoff: Muckross 7 (J Balcerzak 2, S Barnwell 2, E Kiely 2, C Montino Mena) Galway 4 (F Kelly 2, E Carey, A Manley)