THESE ARE not easy days for supporters of Railway Union, At half time in Saturday's Irish Senior Cup match against visitors Pegasus two of the Park Avenue regulars debated which goal they should stand behind for the second half.
Realism ruled the heart in the end and, based on the evidence of Pegasus' total domination of the first 35 minutes of the match, the pair decided to set up camp behind home goalkeeper Janet Quinn's goal. They were "rewarded" with four goals that booked Pegasus, the cup holders, a comfortable passage into the second round where they will play Munster's Harlequins.
Quinn performed heroically for Railway throughout the match and, with the assistance of defender Minnie Douglas, was largely responsible for the miraculous 0-0 score at half time.
"If you counted the number of saves that wee lassie made the scoreline would have been much, much higher," said Pegasus coach Glynis Taylor after the match. Taylor was well satisfied with her team's result, which came courtesy of two goals from Irish captain Jeanette Turner and strikes from Joanne Campbell and Nadine Young.
"If you had asked me beforehand will you take a 4-0 I'd have said I'll take 1-0 - that's all you need. I think to be fair to Railway they really did put up a good fight today, not only in their hockey but in the physical sense. I've no complaints about that, that's the nature of the game in some quarters now," added Taylor.
Muckross have made late comebacks their trademark this season. In the Leinster League last gasp goals gave them draws against Hermes and Old Alexandra; yesterday they needed a Kathy Johnson equaliser to force extra time against visitors Ards. Johnson struck again in the 76th minute to set up a second round trip north to take on Collegians.
Even before yesterday's match at Portadown, Hermes' international forward Jenny Burke had scored more goals at this stage of the season than she did in all of last and she was on target again to give her team a 1-0 victory. The club's reward is a home tie in the second round against Victorians.
