Team WorkPal capture Pakistan Cup

THE All Ireland Polo Club in Phoenix Park renewed bonds of friendship recently when His Excellency Shuja Alam, Ambassador of Pakistan to Ireland, presented the prestigious Pakistan Cup.

The highly favoured Cup, the last to be played for in the summer season, was first presented in the 1980s at the AIPC by representatives of the Pakistan government. Bonds of friendship were re-established on September 12th last when His Excellency presented the cup to WorkPal, the winners of the four-goal tournament with a score of 6.5 goals to two from Pegus Horse Feed.

“Thank you, I enjoyed every minute of it,” said Ambassador Shuja Alam on presenting the Cup to Ian Magahey, James Connolly, Keelan McCarthy and Emmitt Connolly of WorkPal. “Thank you for the opportunity to establish new bonds in polo.”

WorkPal had been having a successful higher goal run in the second half of the season, culminating with the Pakistan Cup. They beat highly favoured LHK in the qualifiers on September 11th on 6.5 goals to two to face Pegus Horse Feed in the final, David Stone, Mark Stone, David J. Stone and John Corbett beating out Wexford and Tyrone in the tournament’s opening rounds.

Although Pegus in the final would score just a single goal while the nominally weaker WorkPal accumulated 4.5 goals including the half-goal handicap advantage, friendship between the AIPC and Pakistan’s polo playing community were reaffirmed by Fayyaz Sharif, a new player based at Polo Wicklow and Bishopland Polo Club. Sharif was instrumental in bringing the Ambassador to the Pakistan Cup final.

“(The Ambassador) comes from a polo-playing family in Pakistan,” said Fayyaz Sharif. “We were having a chat (recently) and we may bring the winners (of the Pakistan Cup next year) to Pakistan to play a friendly match.”

The four-goal subsidiary final was won by Tyrone in a round-robin match against Wexford and LHK/Keelings.

The Zero Goal tournament for the Stanley Corcoran Cup was won by Wexford with seven goals to six from Polo Wicklow. The Zero Goal subsidiary final went to Ballymore on 8.5 goals to four from Coolfin.