Hermes triumph as drama turns sour for Pegasus

Breathtaking, simply breathtaking. That's about the only way to sum up Saturday's Sharwood's-sponsored Irish Senior Cup final at Belfield, when Leinster's Hermes beat Ulster's Pegasus 3-2 after extra time in a rollercoaster of a match that produced more drama and controversy than the average season provides.

Claiming they had been "robbed" of victory by two umpiring decisions Pegasus, beaten for the first time in 18 months, returned to Belfast a bitterly disappointed and angry outfit, with their frustration making them, for the most part, less than gracious in defeat.

But, regardless of the rights and wrongs of their complaints, nothing could justify some of the accusations hurled in the umpires' direction from their supporters, nor detract from a magnificent and courageous Hermes display, one that gave them their first ever win over the cup holders. Nerves made them almost unrecognisable as a team in a poor first half, dominated by Pegasus, but Hermes at least achieved the distinction of being the first side this season to keep the Ulster champions scoreless in the opening 35 minutes of a game. After weathering a Pegasus storm, by the 51st minute of the second half Hermes were, unbelievably, 2-0 up. The first goal came at the end of a glorious move, six minutes after the break, which was started and finished by Jenny Burke. The Irish forward found Fiona Manning on the halfway line with a clearance from just outside her own circle. The Hermes captain played a delightful through ball to Daphne Sixsmith, who ran on to send a reverse stick pass from the left across the face of goal for Burke to force it home. Pegasus appeared to have a good case in claiming that the ball had come off Burke's leg but umpire Ann Logan had a clear view of the incident and, after consulting fellow umpire Mary Power, allowed the goal to stand.

There was no dispute about Hermes' second score 10 minutes later, when Manning slipped the ball into Caitriona Carey's path for her to rifle a superb shot low into the bottom left corner. Pegasus - and maybe even Hermes - were stunned by the scoreline, the first time this season they had trailed by two goals, but their captain Arlene Thompson pulled them back into the game just two minutes later from a short corner and completed a valiant comeback three minutes from time, with another perfect short corner strike to force the match into extra time.

Seconds before the end of the first 15 miutes, Burke scored what proved to be the winning goal. Hermes won a free-hit just outside the circle and Aisling Keane sent the ball in towards Deirdre McDermott, who was being closely marked by a Pegasus defender. The ball deflected off one of their sticks, looped high into the air, landed at Burke's feet and she slotted home from a narrow angle on the left.

Once again Pegasus felt hard done by, arguing that if the ball had been deflected by one of their own defenders it should have been a short corner to Hermes; if it had been sent skyward by a Hermes stick then it was dangerous play and should have been a free out. After the game, Power said the ball had come off a Pegasus stick and that she had decided to play an advantage for Hermes.

But the drama didn't end there. Again Pegasus rallied, pinning Hermes back in to their half and winning another six short corners to bring their tally for the game to 18, compared to Hermes' two. From the last Tara Browne saved brilliantly from Tamara Stronge but the rebound fell to Turner and her goal-bound shot hit Sinead McDonnell's hand on the line - penalty stroke . . . with 60 seconds to go. By now most of the crowd was in need of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Turner stepped up, hit the stroke high to Browne's right but the Irish goalkeeper dived the right way, stuck out her glove and won her team the Irish Senior Cup. "I just felt it bounce off my glove but I had no idea where it went. I was kinda happy when I realised I'd saved it," she said, with a large grin. "They got two goals that shouldn't have been allowed but what can you do," said Pegasus coach David Scott after the game. "It has to be put on record that on the day we were the better side." Perhaps, in terms of possession and pressure, they were but in the course of 90 minutes Pegasus failed to score from open play against a defence they claimed was their opponents' weak link. In the end it was their greatest strength. Few players had a better day than Sinead McDonnell who was simply immense in her marking job on Claire McMahon, the player who had destroyed Old Alexandra in last year's final. Helen Kilroy, Carol Devine and Roly Burke also gave towering performances at the back, aided by midfielders Sixsmith, Mary Logue and Aisling Keane who, after a nervous start, was outstanding. And up front Carey, Burke and Manning combined to score three goals from play, from few opportunities, against a team that had conceded just three in 24 games before Saturday.

"There is no question that we were the better team on the day and we come away from here knowing we should have won, that we are the better team and have the stronger squad, but we were robbed of the Irish Senior Cup by two unbelievable decisions," said Jeanette Turner. "At the end of the day this means nothing to them (the umpires) - they're not the ones who train week in week out for days like this."

"It's the same old story, the umpires play a massive role in games - they just seemed to go out of their way today," added Arlene Thompson. "You can't play 90 minutes against that," she added, going on, to her credit, to pay tribute to Hermes and to wish them well in next season's European Cup Winners' Cup.

It was, though, a sour end to an extraordinary day and Pegasus, to a player, expressed the hope that Hermes will win the Leinster League so that the teams will meet again in next month's All Ireland League play-offs at the same venue. Hermes would welcome that opportunity, too.

HERMES: T Browne; C Devine, H Kilroy, R Burke, S McDonnell, M Logue, D Sixsmith, A Keane, F Manning (capt), J Burke, C Carey. Subs: A Byrne, S McCarthy, D McDermott. Coaches: Jacqui Potter and Oliver Kiethe; manager: Joan Morgan.

PEGASUS: D Hawthorne; C Redpath, A Thompson, P Magill, F Ferguson, C McGookin, J Turner (capt), T Stronge, C McMahon, H Beamish, K Mills. Sub: J Campbell. Coach: David Scott; manager: Janet Douds.

Umpires: M Power (Munster) and A Logan (Munster).