IHF juniors lift Gold Cup in a thriller

When playmaker Ignatius Tirkey brought down the curtains on a nailbiting contest banging home the matchwinner 50 seconds into the first extra time of seven and a half minutes, IHF juniors achieved what seemed to be impossible, edging out Indian Railways 6-5 and lifting the MCC Murugappa Gold Cup at the astro turf stadium in Madras on Saturday.

The anti-climax to the pulsating contest came when tirkey sounded the board, beating the railways goal keeper alex david with stinging 20 yard shot on the left flank in a counter attack. This was after the IHF juniors, who exhibited better skills with the ball at most times in the match , equalised 5-5 in the 63rd minute after being down 5-3 in the 55th minute as they put up a splendid fight through Arjun Halappa, Ignatius Tirkey, Prabhjot Singh and Deepak Thakur up front supporting Bimal Lakra.

As the beginning it appeared that the Railways would steamroll the IHF Juniors with some scintillating show by star striker Chander Pal, Briznev Singh, Iqbal Singh and Johnson Ekka.

In a counter attack, it was the Railways, who snatched the lead in the seventh minute with a powerful shot from the 25 yard line by Johnson Ekka, leaving the IHF defence stranded.

But the IHF juniors were inspired by the presence of K P S Gill, who was watching the titanic battle as the guest of honour, hit back through winger Halappa after missing a few clear chances attacking on the flanks.

Halappa equalised in the 26th minute and made it 2-1 for IHF in the 32nd minute, catching the Railways' defence off guard. But, after a flurry of good moves on either side, Railways equalised after trailing 2-1 at half time.

Chander pal managed to break lose and unleash a shot off a Anup Tirkey feed (2-2). They snatched a 3-2 lead when Iqbal Singh flicked in, trapping a Briznev feeder in the 41st minute.