Dublin University Ladies Hockey Club (DULHC) were prepared for the eventuality of a promotion/relegation playoff before today’s sunlit showdown against Loreto, and few could say it was a surprise when the final whistle blew on a 6-0 defeat in Santry this afternoon. The manner, though, in which Brian Scully’s charges capitulated in the face of an admittedly superb Loreto onslaught, confirming a ninth-place league finish, was indeed a shock. A third-quarter blitz from the visitors may have put the gloss on the scoreline, but in truth they dominated from the outset, subjecting DULHC to a brutal pummelling.
For Trinity, a promotion/relegation playoff awaits on May 6th, with their opponents to be confirmed over the weekend. Before tip-off, however, the hosts knew that a win, coupled with a defeat for Pembroke, could lift them to the safety of eighth.
This, as much as anything, made highly curious DULHC’s apparent cautiousness today. Sitting deep, in compact banks, Trinity looked happy from the outset to cede possession, and it handed the impetus immediately to Loreto.
In any event, the visitors, stifling in their intensity, did not take long to make the breakthrough. A speculative ball from the right wing broke loose, drawing Carolyn Crampton from her goal. The ball squirted loose, falling almost in slow motion to Sarah Torrans, and she made no mistake from six yards out.
It was a bad start for DULHC, and things did not get any better. Loreto’s front three buzzed, pushing Trinity’s defenders into errors, and even when Issy Delamare did manage to find Aine Ryan or Susie Osborne in midfield, a second-wave press from Loreto’s midfield seemed always to ensure possession returned to the visitors within moments. It was co-ordinated and precise, and DULHC seemed powerless in its face, unable to find space or time on the ball.
The second goal, when it came, was thoroughly deserved, as Loreto finally shoved for a second time through Trinity’s compressed lines of defence. Again, it was a fizzed ball into the D that caused the problem. Jabbing Trinity sticks succeeded only in touching – inadvertently – the ball into Síofra O’Brien’s path, and her effort on the turn found Sarah Evans at the back post. Evans, totally unmarked, seemed almost unable to believe her luck, helping the ball into an open goal.
Hannah McLoughlin and Sarah Clarke at Loreto’s base thrived all game in the space being afforded them, the launchpad for many of Loreto’s attacking endeavours. McLoughlin found Niamh Small on the right flank, and her cross, fizzing across the face of goal, had Crampton worried.
A raking pass from Delamare found Ailish Long for Trinity’s first foray into opposition territory five minutes before the break, but she was crowded out before she could find Niamh Sweeney in the centre.
With Pembroke leading Belfast Harlequins 1-0 and Monkstown scoreless against University College Dublin (UCD), the omens for DULHC were not good, and things went downhill fast in the game’s third quarter. McLoughlin, imperious, broke forward, firing emphatically home Loreto’s third after Hayley Mulcahy found her on the edge of the D.
Worse was to come for Trinity. Issy Delamare – who had until this point looked solid if not fully convincing – dithered in possession, caught out by the goal-hungry Evans. With only Crampton to beat, Evans rifled a marvelous reverse-stick effort into the top corner. It was a resounding finish, indicative of the gulf in quality between the sides, and it put the game beyond any doubt.
If DULHC were hoping for a let-up in intensity from the victory-assured visitors, they did not get one. Ali Meeke, whose technique had been yet another impressive facet to Loreto’s performance throughout, bustled along the baseline, and her cut-back found Nicci Daly in acres of space with the goal at her mercy. It was the third goal in as many minutes for Loreto, and it seemed the game was creeping into rout territory.
Trinity did manage to weather the storm slightly before the quarter’s end, courtesy of the ever-industrious Ailish Long. Starved of possession, she did well to intercept a stray Loreto pass before cleverly winning a free with four defenders between her and goal.
Loreto, though, never looked remotely troubled, and returned with interest DULHC’s attacking efforts. At one end, Sweeney found that rarest of things – a pocket of space in Loreto’s circle – but her reverse was deflected wide by Clarke. At the other, Mulcahy pushed home a sixth goal for the visitors after Torrans glided unencumbered through Trinity’s defence.
Most damning of all for DULHC was the fact that it could have been worse. Crampton, beaten six times, managed nevertheless to put in an excellent shift, denying Daly, Mulcahy and Caitlin Sherrin before the end. A short corner for DULHC, won by Sweeney against the odds, offered hope of a consolation, but Rachel Burns’s deflected effort was batted away by Hannah Matthews on the Loreto goal-line. The final whistle will have offered sweet relief to Scully’s charges, who will now have to pick themselves up before the vital playoff next Sunday.
