Player Interviews
Megan Tennant Humphreys - UCD

Inexperienced and naive are the charges usually levelled at student sides but UCD skipper Megan Tennant-Humphreys believes that, while only three of the starting eleven who won the 2009 Irish Senior Cup remain, there is plenty of know-how tipping around Belfield. Indeed, adding Chloe Watkins and Niamh Atcheler to their setup brought in players with 2009 All-Ireland Club Championship winning medals, players who also finished runners-up in 2009.

Brenda Flannery, meanwhile, graced Belfield for the Irish Hockey Trophy final with Greenfields. All three achieved these heights before leaving school, showing how the nature of the game may have changed and it is something UCD hope to draw from when they face Pegasus for the second time in a fortnight.

“We do have quite a lot of experience. There were only three starters from two years ago but there were a good few in the squad and Niamh and Chloe bring experience.

“For any of the youngsters, they may have been in awe of the name of Pegasus and didn’t believe we quite could do it.

“Our performance, losing by just one goal, does give us that bit of belief. If it had been 5-0 it might be different but it does give us that edge for those who is might have been lacking. We’ve played big games this year and hopefully that will stand to us.”

Atcheler will be a big boost. She played only a fleeting role in the Irish Senior Cup semi-final against the same opposition following injury but, having played for Ireland last weekend against France, she is approaching full fitness. And Tennant-Humphreys saw enough in the previous meeting – albeit a 1-0 defeat – to reckon her side can cause an upset over the recently crowned Irish Senior winners. The proximity of the two ties has only added to that sense as she pin-points the reliance on the Ulster side’s starting eleven, having made just one substitution at Belfield.

“Everyone’s looking forward to it. Having lost its great to have another go at them and the opportunity to play them again and hopefully have a different outcome.

“There wasn’t much between us on the day; they had the better of the game but we just didn’t create enough up front so if we can change that around then maybe.

“They seemed to tire toward the end of both halves so if we can play a fast-paced game then it could work. It was towards the end of the match we did score, albeit disallowed, but in the last ten minutes of each half we were on the up. The four quarters, however, might favour them as they’ll have more breaks but we’ll see.

 “We didn’t start well and it is unusual for us not to score in a game. The whole match, I thought ‘grand, we always score at least once’. I don’t think [not scoring] will repeat itself and if we can get on the scoresheet, we’ll do ourselves a lot of favours.”

Playing at this time of year can often be a burden to student sides but the dates have fallen kindly to a certain extent. UCD come into the tournament off the back of a ‘reading week’, allowing more time to study between training before next Tuesday’s exam period.
 Tennant-Humphreys also laughs off any suggestion that relative home advantage will put her side at disadvantage.

“We would have to be the only side playing an Ulster side! We can’t let things like that influence us. We had home advantage last week; things like that don’t always go in your favour. We’ll give it a go; we’re always going to be underdogs. No one expects us to win but we know that we can.”

Interview conducted by Stephen Findlater, Freelance Journalist on behalf of the IHA