Harlequins Mens Hockey Match Report

Instonians (A) 1 - Harlequins (A) 0

Mens Irish Senior Cup - Final

Sunday 4th April 2004

05/04/04

Barnes breaks Quins’ hearts

Instonians 1 Cork Harlequins 0 (after extra-time)

By Bill George

THIS was little short of a classic.

The Irish Senior Cup final at Belfield yesterday was a game that was enhanced by the contrast in styles, by the technical excellence of both teams and a competitive edge that was scalpel-sharp.

Instonians won with a goal from Chris Barnes’ expertly-taken penalty stroke, and that was significant. The gap between the teams was discernible only to the experts and, possibly, only then in theory.

What made the entire exercise hugely enjoyable for the neutral was the total contrast between the ultimate pragmatists of Instonians and the more constructive, more ambitious, Harlequins.

Opposites attract, they say, and in this instance it was a marriage productive of all that is good in the game. Had it been blessed with more goals it would have been perfect.

In the end Instonians were left to salute the composed finish of Barnes in the 73rd minute of a demanding contest and their efficient, relentless defence. They were generous in victory - to a man they stressed that the quality of the opposition had made their win memorable.

In truth, I have not seen Harlequins play better than this. Their teamwork was imaginative and as slick as a surface that was regularly soaked by freezing showers of hailstones.

They won the penalty corner count 8-2, played with a style and swagger that was foreign to the methodology of the more orthodox, more direct, Instonians. But they were compromised and haunted by their old nemesis - an inability to capitalise upon their goal-scoring chances.

We created five clear opportunities in the second-half on the counter-attack and I don’t think two of them went on target, said Harlequins’ technical expert, David Passmore, two of them hit the goalie. I don’t think he actually made a save, I don’t think he knew anything about it.

Little wonder that Instonians were exultant at the final whistle. They knew they had just survived the most searching of examinations. They were never as ambitious in their play but they were rigidly disciplined and immensely concentrated in their defensive work.

We are really, really pleased, it was a really tight game, said Instonians buzz-saw centre-forward, Mark Irwin, it was always the sort of game that the first one to score was going to win and we had to work really hard defensively to hold on.

There was hardly any difference. Cork Harlequins are an excellent side with big strong players who went forward but I think it was just a wee bit of incision that we had and they didn’t have that made the difference.

Harlequins’ young coach coach Stephen Dale bore the pained expression of a Lotto winner who had mislaid his ticket as he said: I don’t think Lady Luck shone down on us. We had chances from play, we had plenty of corners and we have to be a little bit disappointed we didn’t get anything from them. Our average is better than that.

The pain was made more acute by memories of Harlequins’ loss to Lisnagarvey in last season’s final as Dale added: In general play we bossed the second-half. We were a better side than them but unfortunately the little breaks didn’t just fall our way.

Instonians’ smart young striker, Mark Gleghorne, was generous in his praise of Harlequins: We always knew that Cork they Harlequins would be a tough side; very big and physical. They played the better hockey and probably had the better chances of winning. But we took our chance and thankfully came away with the victory.

He drew further comfort from the make-up of his team: We have a very young side. There is a big gap between the younger guys and the older guys. Six of ours are under 18 and Harlequins were probably a bit more experienced because they had more players at the peak of their game. But I think our young lads did well on the day.

So a Northern team once again stressed the high standard in Ulster and Harlequins’ search for that elusive first title must continue. After two losing finals have they the capacity to thrust forward one more time.

Will we be back? You can bet your life we’ll be back, insisted Dale.

INSTONIANS: J. Burns, S. Reid, T. Taylor, C. Barnes, A. Cousins, M. Irwin, J. Lewis, P. Brown, M. Wainwright, N. Cooke, M. Gleghorne, J. Burns, C. Kirk, N. Skillen, P. Gleghorne, G. Currie, S. Redpath, A. Lewis.

CORK HARLEQUINS: W. Bateman, J. Hobbs, P. Chambers, S. Nicholson, D. Eakins, J. Aherne, J. Black, P. Lombard, E. Gash, D. Lombard, M. Black, L. d'Alton, P. O'Driscoll, C. Harte, D. Egner, C. Daunt, S. Sweetnam, R. Hobbs.

UMPIRES: R. O'Connor & R. Ewart.