Railway Union might have finished last at the EuroHockey Indoor Club Trophy in Turkey over the weekend but even competing in the tournament proved quite an achievement by the Dublin club who only had the bare minimum of six players available for their five games.
By going ahead with their participation in the event, they ensured Ireland would not be relegated from the Club Trophy, the second tier of the competition, following the withdrawal of two other clubs.
Railway suffered a whole heap of misfortune ahead of the tournament when injury or illness ruled out Emma Buckley, Holly Jenkinson and Sarah Patton, while Michelle Carey ended up stranded in Hamburg due to a passport issue that prevented her from travelling to Turkey.
Orla Fox, Kate Lloyd, Riona Norton, Jenny Long, Orla Patton and Lily Lloyd had to play every minute of Railway's five games against teams with 12-strong squads. They still managed to draw with eventual runners-up Slavia Praha and only lost three more of their games by a single goal.
If they can get their breath back, Fox, Lloyd and Patton are all due to turn out for Ireland this week in their five-match indoor series, sponsored by Spar, against South Africa in Gormanston Park, Co Meath. The teams meet each evening from Monday through to Friday, all of the games starting at 7pm apart from Wednesday's contest which gets under way at 6pm.
Also included in the Irish squad is Old Alexandra's Mikayla Power who played a significant role in her team's victory over Pegasus in the EY Hockey League on Saturday. Niamh Sweeney picked out Power in the circle and her perfectly deflected pass was turned home by Abbie Russell for the only goal of the game, a result that puts Alexandra level on points with Pegasus in third place.
Banbridge and Catholic Institute, meanwhile, will have to try yet again to play their Irish Senior Cup quarter-final, already postponed once, after their scheduled meeting on Saturday was called off due to a frozen pitch.
Hockey League: Old Alexandra 1 (A Russell), Pegasus 0.
