Trinity retained the Chilean Cup in Belfast yesterday when an extra time goal from Kerry Hiles secured the Dublin students a 2-1 win over UCC in a skilful and eagerly contested final.
The Munster champions, who included Irish international Michelle O'Sullivan in their line-up, were a shade unfortunate not to have forced a penalty shoot-out after a stirring second half performance enabled Joanna Hyland - with a penalty stroke conversion - to nullify Cathryn Curran's 10th-minute opener.
Indeed, there was an element of good fortune surrounding the decisive goal when the Ulster under-21 captain's shot, from a set piece, took a bad deflection off a defender's stick, leaving UCC goalkeeper Karan McCarthy wrong-footed.
Earlier, UCG players were heard saying `bring on Randalstown' (next week's Irish Senior Cup opponents), their disappointment at a 4-1 semi-final defeat by Trinity tempered by the fact this was their best finish in the tournament for more than a decade.
Hiles got two of Trinity's goals with the others coming from Anya Bowers and Una Budd. Orla Young replied for the spirited Galwegians. Hyland's first half penalty corner conversion was enough to give UCC a slender 1-0 win over Queens in the other semi-final.
There was further disappointment for the hosts in the men's showpiece, in which a double strike from senior international Mark Irwin saw University of Ulster retain the Mauritius Cup with a 31 win over Queens, who had taken the lead through Johnny Cash. In the semi-finals, UCC and Trinity had fallen to 2-0 defeats against Queens and UU respectively.
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