The Irish ladies senior water polo cup final turned into a nail-biter which had to be won and lost in the cruellest way this evening.
It took penalties to decide the game - the All-Ireland final in water polo - as nothing separated Galway's Tribes and Dublin’s St Vincents for a gruelling hour in the university pool in Limerick.
Tribes led the game all the way, but Vincents ladies kept after them and went a goal ahead in the final two minutes to lead 10-9.
Tribes came back after they were awarded a penalty in the last minute and although both teams called time outs with 12 seconds and one second to go respectively, neither could get the winning goal and it ended 10-10.
St Vincent’s ladies then won the cup on penalties, 3-2, a particularly cruel blow for a skilful and brave Tribes team in their first ever senior cup final, but either team could have been national champions.
St Vincents also beat them last week on penalties in the league decider and are now league and cup champions
Laura Casserly from Tribes was named most valuable player of the tournament.
Erin Riordan, who swam for Ireland in last year’s Olympic Games in Paris, only took up the sport when she retired in September and has won her first Irish Senior Cup medal with St Vincent’s at her first attempt.
The men's national final between St Vincent's and Corrib, another Dublin Galway rivalry was a more certain affair with Vincent's going in front from the start and Corrib, try as they might, unable to catch them.
It ended 14-9 with the north Dublin team winning their third consecutive Irish men's senior water polo cup.
The men's most valuable player was Mathew Hynes from St Vincent's and Fionn Byrne was the young player of the tournament.
