No stopping Railway at full steam

WOMEN'S HOCKEY: Railway Union 4 Cork Harlequins 0:RAILWAY UNION'S heartbreak last week when they lost the Irish Senior Cup final on penalties was offset yesterday at Grange Road when they carried off the ESB Irish Hockey League title.

This weekend there were no heroic comebacks required to get them back in the game. The Sandymount side led from start to finish, barely stopping to look back at a doughty but overrun Cork Harlequin side.

The win gives Railway their first national title and a place in Europe next season.

While Cork Harlequins’ spirit kept them defiant until the end, the champions rarely looked like conceding ground.

A spell between the 28th minute and 48th minutes delivered three deserved goals, before a penalty at the tail end of the match capped off a super team performance.

It might have become difficult for Railway had the Harlequins kept up a frustrating but effective defence.

But they were always creating circle penetrations, and when Jean McDonnell took a pass from Nikki Evans at a set-piece her drill from the edge broke the dead lock for 1-0.

McDonnell, Evans, Emma Smyth and Kate Dillon continued to probe, and although Harlequins goalkeeper Amy O’Neill was constantly called into play, it took another well-struck short corner, again from McDonnell, to create some distance.

This time her rising drive took a deflection to end up in the roof of the net.

The third goal came to the deserving Evans, whose work-rate never dipped below full throttle. A pass from the left wing bobbled hard across the face of the goal and looked harmless until Evans reached behind with her reverse stick and somehow managed to deflect the ball past O’Neill.

Even the evergreen former Ireland captain Rachael Kohler couldn’t get much from the Railway defence, and although she used her fine stickwork to manufacture a few corners there was little change from the winners, as Helen Stevenson also played a busy game in the Railway goal.

Harlequins arrived into the fourth quarter needing three goals to take the match to overtime. Again the Dublin side had alternative ideas and continued on the offensive.

The fourth goal came from the penalty spot, Kate Dillon stepping up and putting her stroke high and wide of the O’Neill’s right hand to close the season and league champions.

Railway Union and cup winners Loreto are in Europe next season.

RAILWAY UNION: H Stevenson, H Jenkinson, E Lucey, E Dolan, I Joyce (capt), S Walsh, K Dillon, E Smyth, J McDonnell, N Evans, C Joyce. Rolling subs: S McDonald, K McKenna, E Dillon, R Hutchinson, H de Burgh-Whyte, P O'Dwyer, S Dooley.

CORK HARLEQUINS: A O'Neill, C Sargent (capt), Y O'Byrne, H Chapple, K Bateman, R Kohler, R McSharry, A McGrath, S McCarthy, J Chapple, C O'Connor. Rolling subs: J Morris, C Bergin, J Bourke, E McGrath, L McSweeney, L Mullins, L Daunt.

Umpires: C Metchette G Taylor.