6th April 2009
Whitchurch and Swansea Ladies retain titles
Swansea Ladies - Women's Welsh Cup winners
Swansea Ladies - Women's 2nd Xl Cup winners
Whitchurch Saints - Women's Shield winners
Whitchurch - Men's Welsh Cup winners
Cardiff UWIC - Men's 2nd Xl Cup winners
Swansea University - Men's Shield winners
The holders of the two Welsh Cups retained their titles with Swansea Ladies beating Howardian Ladies 3-1 and Whitchurch overcoming their City neighbours, Cardiff & UWIC on penalty strokes after a 1-1 draw following extra time.
Other winners were Swansea University in the Men’s Shield and Whitchurch Saints in the Ladies version with Cardiff & UWIC and Swansea ladies both winning their respective 2nd Xl Cup finals.
In the first of the weekend’s matches Howardian’s opened the scoring in the Ladies 2nd Xl Cup with a well taken goal from Tasha Jones. It took until just before half time for Swansea to get back on level terms through Chrissie Adams. A converted penalty corner from Isabel Thomissen, closely followed by a further goal from Faye Webber seemed to take the heart out of Howard’s challenge and Swansea ran out winners 3-1.
The Men’s 2nd Xl Cup was arguably the best match of the weekend with Cardiff & UWIC and Whitchurch trading the lead on a number of occasions. Whitchurch’s Rhys Thomas was the first to score but a converted penalty corner from Ollie Dear brought Cardiff & UWIC level. Robin Lovegrove gave Cardiff the lead with an excellent goal which they managed to hold onto until 8 minutes from the end when Doug Young brought the scores level. In the 2nd period of extra time Whitchurch thought the Cup was theirs when Thomas scored his second. However Cardiff & UWIC were not to be outdone with Jay Wilyman converting a penalty corner with 4’ left on the clock. Cardiff’s goalkeeper Gareth George had already saved one penalty stroke in normal time and his teammates must have been confident in him repeating the feat in the penalty stroke barrage. They were not disappointed with George saving three Whitchurch strokes to give Cardiff & UWIC the Cup.
Bridgend and Swansea University came together in the Shield final in a repeat of the previous year’s fixture. In a midfield dominated match, chances were few and far between and it was not until 23’ that the University took the lead through a Mike Fieldhouse penalty stroke which they held onto until Nick Anthony brought the ‘Raven’s level after 63’. With no further score extra time was played and when Reece Adams scored with just 5’ left on the clock Bridgend through the Cup was theirs. Swansea thought otherwise with Pat Wain equalising 2’ later and with a penalty stroke barrage again coming into play it was the students who won through 4-3.
UWIC Ladies took on Whitchurch Saints from the league below in the Women’s Shield final. In a match that would not have pleased the purists, both teams came close to taking what would likely to have been a winning goal but some stalwart defending kept the score sheet blank. Extra time could not separate the teams and it was left to the ‘Saints’ to capture the title on penalty strokes for the first time since 2003.
The Women’s Cup final saw perennial winners Swansea take on the ‘Pink’s from Howardians. With their National League experience it was no great surprise that Swansea took an early lead through Katrin Budd. Howardians were not overawed however and they gradually fought their way back into the game. Good goalkeeping from Emma Olivari kept Swansea at bay and when Laura Please capitalised on a goalkeeping mistake to bring the scores level, the Howard’s supporters thought that this might be the year when they would win the title. However, just 3’ later, Howard’s hopes proved to be short-lived as Swansea took the lead once again through Clare Halliday and with the same player converting a penalty corner to score her second and Swansea’s third after 69’ the holders showed why they are still Wales’ most successful club in retaining their Cup title.
The Men’s final between Cardiff & UWIC and Whitchurch proved to be as equally close as their previous two league encounters this season. Umpires Pettitt and Drury allowed plenty of advantage enabling both sets of players to show their undoubted skills and with the two goalkeepers being called into action on a numerous occasions the vociferous crowd were kept fully entertained. It was not surprising that the teams turned round at halftime at 0-0 but Whitchurch’s Jon Collis conversion of a penalty corner after 58’ broke the deadlock. Cardiff & UWIC continued to press and it was ex-Whitchurch player Joe Naughalty who converted another penalty corner to bring the scores level with 3’ minutes of normal time left. For the 4th time in the weekend extra time could not separate the finalists and it was only after penalty strokes that Whitchurch emerged as the winners.
Both Swansea Ladies and Whitchurch now automatically qualify as first ranked teams for the EuroHockey Club tournaments next season with the other teams left to fight it out at Sophia Gardens over 16th/17th May for the one remaining spot available.
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