Cathal Brugha Water Polo Club brought the men’s Irish Senior Cup back to Belfast on Sunday after beating Galway team Corrib in the final of the long awaited 2021 competition.
After the gruelling final ended 11-11, a nail-biting penalty shootout ensued, which saw Brugha captain and tournament MVP Chris Hodgkinson save three penalties. His team-mates Adrian Hanna, Chris Raffo and Pierce Doherty converted their shots to send the travelling spectators, neutrals and online streaming audience back home into a frenzy with two shots remaining.
Brugha’s goals in the final came from Stiofán McMahon (4), Adrian Hanna (3) with Chris Devlin, Nathan Taylor, Nathan Hanna and Chris Raffo all scoring one each.
Callum Taylor, Desie Donnelly, Johnny Donnelly, Matthew Hanna, Adam Cushley and Donall O’Dochartaigh made up the rest of the impressive squad.
Cathal Brugha last won the Cup in 2015 and lost their last two finals to Corrib in a penalty shootout in 2018 and to St Vincent’s in 2019 so this was a welcome win for the West Belfast club.
Stiofán McMahon and Chris Hodgkinson (Captain and tournament MVP)
Coach Conor Campfield said: “I am immensely proud of the team who dug deep to overcome home favourites Corrib.
"All the hours sacrificed training hard in the pool and gym ultimately paid off for the lads, edging out their opponents on penalties.”
The club’s women’s team lost out in their semi-final to eventual winners St Vincent’s (Dublin) but the club has high hopes for this team in the future.
Club Chairman Ciaran McGurk said: “It has been a challenging couple of years for the water polo community and firstly I would like to thank the organising committee and our friends in Galway for delivering an excellent, safe and well-run tournament.
"It was great to be back in Salthill and the supporters were treated to many exceptional, entertaining and competitive games.
"Both our teams thoroughly enjoyed the weekend and we are obviously delighted that our men's team, with its mixture of youth and experience were crowned champions after some hard fought games against top class competition.”
