Pegasus pinch Champions Trophy title from dominant Loreto

Loreto 1 (S O’Brien) Pegasus 1 (A Speers),

Pegasus win shootout 4-2

Loreto were left wondering quite how they did not retain the women’s EY Champions Trophy title as Pegasus pinched the final from under their noses.

In a dominant normal-time display, Loreto eventually got a lead their general play deserved four minutes from time, only to concede with 71 seconds to go from just Pegasus’s second shot.

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And the Ulster side held their nerve better in the shootout to win 4-2 and win the reformatted national title for the first time.

For Loreto there were plenty of moments to rue. Nicci Daly clipped the post in the first quarter, while Sarah Torrans was twice through one-on-one but was denied, first off by Megan Todd and then Pamela Glass on the goal line.

Pegs’ skipper Michelle Harvey scooped another one out of the goal mouth as they rolled with the punches, before falling behind to Siofra O’Brien’s hotly contested finish.

It seemed late enough to allow Pegasus no time to respond, but the won a penalty corner, which Shirley McCay slapped to her former Irish international colleague Alex Speers to deflect home for 1-1.

Loreto took an early lead in the shootout but did not score after the second round, while Pegasus were almost faultless, with Taite Doherty slotting the winner.

Pegasus skipper Michelle Harvey said: “We definitely endured a lot of pressure in the first half, but absolutely amazing to get back into it and keep fighting all the way to the end. We always knew we had it in us to get the draw at least today, and then have a good shot in the shootout.”

Earlier in the day Muckross survived their promotion/relegation playoff with a shootout win over Queen’s University.

LORETO: L Murphy, A Meeke, S Evans, G McLoughlin, C Sherin, S Twomey, C Hamill, H Matthews, S Clarke, N Daly. Subs: K Crotty, H Mulcahy, S O’Brien, M Jennings, S Torrans, G Donald, A Taaffe, A Carragher.

PEGASUS: M Todd, R Maguire, T Doherty, M Harvey, L McKee, A Speers, G Irwin, S McCay, K Gourley, K McDonald, S Thompson. Subs: C Hart, C Harvey, K Miller, C McKane, P Glass, J Reid.