While unbeaten bronze medallists Pembroke Wanderers were foiled of an appearance in the final by a one-goal difference in favour of Grange of Scotland in the men's competition, it was a 25-goal waltz for the women of Cork Harlequins who captured the European Cup Winners Cup (B Division) Trophy in Vienna.
Having added a 6-0 defeat of Collegians of Gibraltar on Saturday to their 14-0 trouncing of Orsundebro of Sweden, Harlequins were wary of complacency against Newtown of Wales in yesterday's final, but they went on to carve out a 5-0 victory.
Pembroke also won 5-0 in finishing strongly against the hosts, Akademischer HTC to gain third place. Grange lost 2-1 to Racing Club de France in the decider.
Harlequins were worthy of a place in the A Division. "It means a lot to us to have won this title in our first appearance in Europe," said Bernie Heffernan, who has announced a halt to her coaching career.
It was no surprise that Rachael Kohler was named player of the tournament, while her international team-mate Karen O'Brien was top scorer with seven goals. Kohler and O'Brien scored to make it 2-0 at the interval in the final. Ciara McGrath increased the margin with a crisply-hit short corner, Logue drove through for the fourth goal and O'Brien scored with a penalty stroke.
Pembroke's game yesterday followed a similar pattern, though they were frustrated by AHTC in the first half in which they scored through Paudie Carley, from a short corner. But 18 minutes into the second period Justin Sherriff put away a powerful drag flick. Carley then found openings for Alan Giles and Duggie Good before top markman Sherriff was on the target again on the final hooter. On Saturday, Pembroke beat Minsk 2-1 in their final Pool A match but, crucially, opportunities to win by a wider margin fell from their grasp, notably in the closing stages. As a result, Grange needed to defeat Mladost of Croatia by four goals and this they did (5-1) through the inspiration of Shaun Middleton with just over a minute to spare.
HARLEQUINS (squad) C Mahony; A Falvey, C McGrath, J Kehelly, K O'Sullivan (capt); H Costello, R Kohler, A McCarthy; J Hodgins, K O'Brien, J Logue; M Ahern, E Dillon, J Barry, G Kehelly; K Murphy, M Boland. Coach: B Heffernan. Manager: T Lane.
PEMBROKE (squad): N Henderson, S Doran; K Treacy, D McKeen, M Tijs, F De Rosa; D Donnelly, P Carley(capt), A Kershaw; D Good, J Sherriff, A Giles; T Dunne, P Good, P Priestly, M Hunt; Coach: S Filgas. Manager: F Donnelly.
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