Ulster ended what, for them, amounted to a drought when they won their first Senior Interprovincial title for two years at Harlequins Hockey Club in Cork at the weekend, winning all three of their matches including yesterday's decider against Munster.
Fittingly it was Jill Orbinson who scored their winner against the hosts, capping a fine weekend for the Portadown forward who caught the eye of watching Irish coach Riet Kuper. "Is Orbinson ready to step up from under-21 to senior international hockey," she was asked. "She's ready," nodded a smiling Kuper, who marvelled, in particular, at Orbinson's first half display against Leinster on Saturday. Ulster took the lead against the defending champions, who were seeking their third title in a row, after just six minutes when Arlene Thompson drilled a shot low to the left of Sandra O'Gorman from a short corner, her province's first goal against Leinster in three Interprovincial tournaments. Leinster, who were without the unwell Jenny Burke, lost O'Gorman through injury shortly before half time but were indebted to her replacement, Loreto's Avril Copeland, who made two superb second half saves from Orbinson and Shauna Parkhill to keep her out-of-sorts team in the game. Against the run of play Leinster equalised six minutes from time when Cathy McKean, another youngster to impress over the weekend, intercepted Thompson's pass across her own circle to score past Alison Vance.
In truth justice was done, however, in the final minute of the game when Jeanette Turner, who had earlier been sent off for 10 minutes, after upending Mary Logue (she was joined on the 'sin-bin' bench by Tamara Stronge for a similar challenge on Caitriona O'Kelly), won and converted a penalty stroke to give her side a deserved victory. Ulster returned to action in the next game, beating Connacht 5-1, with Stronge scoring two of their goals. Munster had beaten Connacht 4-1 in the day's first game, with Joanna Hyland and Jane Chapple sharing the goals, after Rosie Walsh had given her side the lead after 14 minutes. In the day's final game Munster set up a decider against Ulster by beating Leinster 1-0, with Aoife Falvey forcing home a short corner, taken after the end-of-game hooter had sounded, after Copeland had saved Karen O'Brien's shot. "I told them I'll need to buy a bottle of hair colour after that," said a traumatised Munster coach Bernie Heffernan, who had seen her team weather early, intense Leinster pressure, thanks largely to towering performances at the back from Falvey, Joyce Kehelly, Aisling Keane and Karen O'Sullivan.
With an inferior goal difference Munster needed to beat Ulster yesterday but apart from short corner strikes from Sarah Kelleher and Keane, both saved by Vance, they rarely troubled a composed Ulster defence. Orbinson's winner came after 16 minutes, when she brilliantly deflected Turner's free high in to the net, giving Sharon Hutchinson no chance. Kelleher almost snatched an equaliser at the death but Vance dived low to her right to keep out her short corner strike. "We achieved two thirds of what we set out to achieve but Ulster, to their credit, were the technically better team and deserved their victory," said Heffernan after the game. "We've been second the last two years, maybe next year we can go one better."
