Sport

Barnwell scores decisive goal for Loreto

SCHOOLGIRLS' HOCKEY: Loreto Beaufort 1 Mount Sackville 0 LORETO BEAUFORT will defend the Leinster Senior Cup they won last year…

MARY HANNIGAN At Wesley College
Tue Mar 03 2009 - 00:00

SCHOOLGIRLS' HOCKEY: Loreto Beaufort 1 Mount Sackville 0LORETO BEAUFORT will defend the Leinster Senior Cup they won last year for the first time since 1982 when they meet St Andrew's in Thursday's final at Grange Road. The holders came through a tight semi-final against Mount Sackville at Wesley College yesterday, Sarah Barnwell getting the game's only goal midway through the first half.

Mount Sackville opened promisingly, Noelle Farrell testing the opposition with a fine strike from an early short corner, but Beaufort soon settled and, after 15 minutes, scored what proved to be the decisive goal.

From their second short corner of the game Hannah Matthews slipped the ball in to Barnwell’s path and the midfielder fired past Sinéad Rodger in the Mount Sackville goal.

Mount Sackville may well have equalised before the break but for a critical interception by Beaufort defender Zoe Ennis, one of five survivors from last year’s cup-winning starting line-up. They came closer still to levelling the game after the break, Rachel Hinkson almost turning home Stephanie O’Connell’s cross from the right, before being denied by a superb Matthews’ block from a short corner.

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After weathering that flurry of pressure Beaufort regained the upper hand in the closing stages of the game, Sinéad McGirr coming close to doubling their lead with five minutes to go when her shot hit the post, Laura Delany putting the rebound just wide.

Thursday’s final will be a repeat of the 2006 decider, when Andrew’s won the competition for the third time in four years, but Beaufort avenged that defeat in last year’s semi-finals, before going on to beat the then cup holders Alexandra College in the final.

LEINSTER SENIOR CUP:Semi-final – Loreto Beaufort 1 (S Barnwell) Mount Sackville 0.

LORETO BEAUFORT:J Duffy, Z Ennis, J Early, N O'Reilly, J Redmond, S Barnwell, S McGirr, H Matthews, C Baker, P O'Dwyer, C O'Farrell. Subs: L Delany, R Kelly, O Gavin, F Gavin, R Murphy.

MOUNT SACKVILLE:S Rodger, E Sweeney, O Fox, A Griffin, H Ring, R Hinkson, D Shiell, N Farrell, F McLoughlin, S O'Connell, M Shields. Subs: O Smart, D Garrihy, S Quinn, A Garrigan, A O'Brien.

Umpires:D McCarthy and S A Fanagan.