Hockey: Well, Church of Ireland did vow to put up a better show against Pegasus in the last eight of the ESB Irish Senior Cup than they did when the teams met in last April's club championship quarter-finals, the Cork side losing then 10-1 on aggregate.
The improvement was, to say the least, startling, a Sinead Connery goal 12 minutes into the second half giving C of I a memorable victory over the All-Ireland club champions at Garryduff on Saturday. For the club - and Connery in particular - the semi-finals will be no less memorable: they have been drawn at home to cup holders Hermes, for whom Connery's older sister Fiona, the Irish full back, plays.
The defeat completed what had already turned into a nightmarish weekend for Pegasus. Their Friday flight from Belfast to Cork was cancelled due to fog so they travelled to Dublin hoping to catch another flight to Cork - but that, too, was cancelled, and it was four in the morning by the time their coach reached its destination.
Hardly ideal preparations, then, not least because Pegasus brought only 12 players with them to Cork, where, after an evenly-fought first half, in which both sides won two short corners, they realised that, 10 months on, C of I were a different proposition.
After Connery scored from a short corner Pegasus upped the pressure, but a combination of fine goalkeeping by Liz Hourihan, defending by Jenny Barry and midfield work by Deirdre Casey and Connery helped the hosts protect their lead, surviving seven second half Pegasus short corners.
Hermes, then, are C of I's next challenge after Molly Powers, their American international, scored the only goal of their quarter-final against Loreto, in which they also missed a penalty stroke.
The second semi-final pairs Ballymoney and Old Alexandra, who last reached the final in 1998. Loreto Beaufort won through to Wednesday's semi-finals of the Leinster Senior Cup with a 3-0 quarter-final victory over Our Lady's Grove on Saturday. Beaufort will play Mount Sackville and Muckross Park will meet St Andrew's at Grange Road.
