Loreto’s walking wounded took gold from the EuroHockey Challenge I with a comprehensive 5-1 win over Lithuania’s Šiauliai Ginstrektė in Rakovnik.
It was a remarkable outcome amid a string of adversities to finish the tournament unbeaten as Aoife Taaffe bookended the win with the first and last goals.
In between, Nicola Torrans guided in a Sarah Clarke corner shot for 2-0 before Karolina Raulinaityte got one back to have the game in the balance going into the final quarter.
But a lovely touch from Lisa Mulcahy to Hannah Matthews who smashed into the circle was backed up by a Clarke rocket for 4-1; Taaffe’s top-corner flick rounded out the win in spectacular style.
For coach Paul Fitzpatrick, he says the tournament will go down in club folklore as international unavailability, Leaving Cert and college commitments left his side shy 12 potential players.
It meant first appearances of the season for Clarke, Niamh Kinsella and 46-year-old Wendy Byrne who all played crucial roles.
Add in food poisoning to Irish Under-21 captain Caitlin Sherin during the tournament while Yasmin Pratt departed for hospital with a broken hand seven minutes into the final game. Matthews was unable to make the first game due to work commitments.
For Byrne, it is her second Euro gold having won the Cup Winners Trophy in 2003 with the club in Vienna.
“It’s always great to win a competition like this and I really like these stories that come out of them. Like, Wendy coming out to play will be talked about for a long, long time,” Fitzpatrick said.
“She was travelling [to support]. No disrespect to her but we had 12 players who were unavailable, it’s what happened. Wendy was going so we put her down on the squad sheet for that eventuality that we just might need her.”
“We were down six either senior or Under-21 internationals and so we were fairly spent. Grace McLoughlin, Sarah Clarke played every minute of every game, Kate Crotty the same. We had no rotations in the back four, one in midfield and one up front for most of the game. This is really not easy, especially in that heat!”
In Copenhagen, meanwhile, Lisnagarvey’s route to gold was far simpler as they cruised to a 7-1 final win over hosts HC Copenhagen, completing a fifth title of the season.
Johnny Lynch got the first of his subsequent hat-trick in the fourth minute. Copenhagen did respond via Fabian van Oevelen soon after but it was one-way traffic after that.
Cole Chambers restored the lead before the end of the first quarter and it was 4-1 by half-time with Andy Williamson and Lynch running in the scores.
Matthew Nelson added a fifth from a corner rebound to land the tournament top goalscorer award – nine in four games – and Troy Chambers and Lynch closed out the magnificent seven.
The victory completed a perfect season for the Hillsborough club as they add this EuroHockey Challenge I title to the EY Champions Trophy, EY Hockey League, Irish Senior Cup and Kirk Cup crowns already in the cabinet for 2021/22.
They can now look forward to a Euro Hockey League campaign at the back end of September.
Men
EuroHockey Club Challenge I final: Lisnagarvey 7 (J Lynch 3, C Chambers, M Nelson, C Chambers, A Williamson) HC Copenhagen 1 (F van Oevelen)
Women
EuroHockey Club Challenge I final: Loreto 5 (A Taaffe 2, L Mulcahy, S Clarke, N Torrans) Sliauliai Ginstrekte 1 (K Raulinaityte)
