IAN STEELE was left scratching his head at the end of the Irish Senior League Finals decider between his victorious Muckross team and Randalstown in Galway yesterday. The Ulster champions were a bit bemused themselves.
Without Mary Logue, who made herself unavailable for the finals, the injured Deirdre Courtney and with an ailing Clodagh Grealy at the centre of their defence, Muckross, somehow, survived a relentless wave of Randalstown attacks and short corners to snatch a remarkable 1-0 victory.
It was a victory, courtesy of a first half goal by Orla Bell, that secured both their third consecutive All-Ireland title and their cherished passport into European competition next season.
Steepe could barely believe that his team had held on. The great escape was achieved largely through the outstanding goalkeeping of Sandra O'Gorman and heroic defending by an entire team unaccustomed to spending so much time in their own half.
Between them, Bell, Teresa Hurley and Trish McHugh produced a string of crucial tackles and blocks in and around their circle. But if one player stood out in the midst of the siege it was Clodagh McMoreland, whose towering performance was as impressive as any defender as produced all season.
On so many of the 16 occasions Randalstown's Jackie McWilliams struck short corners goalwards, McMoreland was there with a block to, momentarily, relieve the pressure.
The teams had collected their expected victories against UCC and UCG, who drew 1-1 yesterday, on Saturday. But the margin of the Ulster side's win over the hapless UCG, 12-0, left them needing just a point against Muckross to secure the title.
For the first 1-0 minutes of the match a Randalstown victory looked the more likely, as Muckross, who failed to win a single short corner in the game, struggled to make an impression
Everything changed in the 12th minute when Hurley and Bell, who scored all of their team's six goals over the weekend, combined to punish Mary King's poor hit-out. Hurley collected he ball in midfield, burst forward, squared to Bell on her left and the Leinster forward hit a perfect shot past Mary Nugent from just inside the circle.
Triona Bowtell had a chance to double the Muckross lead three minutes later, but that was to signal the end of her side's forays into Randalstown territory. The siege began.
"I looked over at Graham towards the end and thought, What the hell are we doing this for," said Steepe of the agony both he and Graham Quincey, his successor as Randalstown coach, endured in the closing, tension-filled stages of the match.
"Sixteen short corners to none tells its own story - they were the better team and if there was any justice in the world they would have got something out of the game. But there is no justice in hockey," he added.
Logue decided to miss the league finals (she will also now miss Muckross' trip to Sicily next month for the European Club finals) because she wants to concentrate on international hockey ahead of August's World Cup qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe. Her recent appointment as Irish captain for next weekend's four-nation tournament in Cardiff may prove more long-term than first thought, with doubts now arising about Jeanette Turner's availability for Zimbabwe.
