A GOAL fit to grace any hockey occasion, at any level, won Santa Sabina their first Leinster Schoolgirls' League Final in 17 years at Belfield yesterday afternoon against a luckless Loreto, Bray team.
Triona Doyle produced the match winner in the 14th minute when, after being fed the ball on the left by Nora Gallagher, she set off on a mazy run towards the circle. Once there, she reverse sticked her way around two defenders before slotting the ball past Camilla Donnelly from the narrowest of angles.
Bray, bidding for their first ever victory in the competition, rallied to put the Sutton team under intense pressure for long periods of the game but, despite the best efforts of captain Orla Howe and Mairead Berkery, they failed to break through a Santa Sabina defence superbly marshalled by sweeper Barbara O'Neill.
. Meanwhile, in senior hockey, UCC, having secured the Munster Senior League title last weekend, are aiming to complete the second half of the double when they take on Harlequins, for the third year running, in tomorrow's Munster Senior Cup final at Garryduff.
Both teams will be without their international squad members - Karen O'Brien and Michelle O'Sullivan of UCC and Harlequins' Rachel Kohler and Sharon Hutchison - now that the deadline for the Irish's players' involvement in club hockey has passed.
Loreto and Muckross continue their preparations for next Wednesday's Leinster League decider at Belfield with Loreto needing a win if they are to pip the defending champions to the title in the last fixture of the season.
Matthias Bechmann (Three Rock Rovers), Jenny Burke (Hermes), Zanya Dahl (Trinity), Peter Darley (Avoca) and Robin Madeley (Three Rock Rovers), amongst others, will be giving a hockey training course for all school players between the ages of 10 and 18 on March 24th and 25th at Serpentine Avenue. The fee for the course is £15. Anyone interested should contact Rudi Wortmann at 087-2340155.
