Experience to prove vital for Greenfields in Irish Trophy final

STEPHEN GLENNON

GREENFIELDS Hockey Club will bid to become the first Galway team to win the Irish Trophy Cup – and secure a place back in the top flight of women’s hockey, the Irish Senior Cup for the 2012/‘13 season – when they face Omagh in Belfield on Sunday (1:15pm).

Although Greenfields did compete in the old Irish Senior Cup many years ago, the restructuring of competitions and the initiation of the Irish Trophy Cup in 2008 for teams who previously found themselves struggling to compete with the country’s best, has presented clubs with the opportunity to set more realistic goals and develop their sides in a more progressive atmosphere.

No Galway or Connacht team has claimed the prize, with Ulster Elks (2009), Catholic Institute (2010) and Lisnagarvey (2011) securing the Cup in its first three years. That said, Greenfields are making their second appearance in the final having lost out (3-1) to Catholic Institute in the 2010 decider.

According to Head Coach Deirdre McDermott, the fact that this is the club’s second appearance in the final in three years should be an advantage. “There are eight players in the current squad who were involved that day and I definitely think the experience of that final will count,” she said. “Omagh haven’t been in the Trophy final before, so that experience should help us.

“I suppose, Catholic Institute have since gone from strength to strength and they were already a very good side at that stage. That final [in 2010] was sort of a David v Goliath clash and Greenfields also had a couple of injuries that day which didn’t help matters.”

In any event, Greenfields – under the direction of manager Imelda Brennan, head coach McDermott and coach Derek O’Loughlin – now have an opportunity to make amends for that loss and given the impressive manner in which they have embraced each challenge to date, the power is in their hands to do so.

The strength of their title bid so far has been their defence, which has only conceded one goal in their four Cup games to date. In their opener, they accounted for Our Lady’s of Terenure 1-0 – Trish Garret netting the crucial goal. In their subsequent outing against Ashton, captain Alma Whelan tallied their only goal, before the Cork side equalised late on. Still, Greenfields’ experience saw them emerge 4-2 victors on penalty strokes.

For more, read this week's Galway City Tribune.