Railway played a pulsating and high tempo game against Loreto in the sunshine at Havelock Park, Banbridge in today's final of the EY Champions Trophy.

The Railway team played with strong commitment and some great connectivity to overcome Loreto. A tight and nervy first quarter where both teams looked a little edgy gave way to three quarters of open attacking play which saw Railway largely have the upper hand.

Despite good possession and playing with pace and width, the teams remained deadlocked with the score 0-0 at half time. A sequence of short corners and chances from play were well defended by Loreto and, in particular, Elizabeth Murphy in the Loreto goal. Railway did manage to force the ball over the line from a short corner switch in the second quarter, only to see it disallowed for an infringement as the ball came through a group of players a yard out from goal.

Quarters three and four followed a similar theme with good attacking patterns from Railway being solidly defended by Loreto. Loreto did have chances across the game with a number of short corners (though the SC count was probably in Railway's favour overall) and the main threat came from turnover counter attacking thrusts from Loreto. Thankfully, the Railway defence and Emma Buckley in goal ensured there was to be no goal for Loreto today.

As the seconds ticked down towards the hooter and the ominous 1 v 1 shoot out, Roisin Upton decided to throw a long direct aerial down the centre of the field from a 16 yard hit out. Feeling that having the ball down the far end of the field with 12 seconds remaining was the safest option at that stage was I am sure what was going through her mind.

But then, the ball skipped speedily off the Havelock Park turf just around the 25 to catch out the final Loreto defender and her mis control saw Niamh Carey through for her own one on one versus Elizabeth Murphy. A foul from Murphy saw the umpire raise their arms to award a penalty stroke as the clock ticked to 0:00.

Upton walked the 75 metres up the pitch with confidence and her penalty stroke low to the goalkeepers right had the necessary pace and accuracy as despite an excellent attempt by Murphy, she could only deflect the ball into the top corner and that was it. Cheers ensued from the Railway crowd and team and we were victorious.

But there was more. Not only were we awarded the EY Champions Trophy, we also had the EY Player of the Tournament, Captain Emma Smyth and EY Goalkeeper of the Tournament, Emma Buckley to celebrate.

Congratulations to the team this weekend and the wider squad for their commitment, perseverance and application of both their technical and team based skills. Congratulations also to our coaching and management team of Una, Gareth, Ellie, Rachel, David and Margaret. Becoming National Champions needed high quality input and output from all of you.

Onwards now to next weekend and the Irish Senior Cup.