Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Pembroke 3-1 Glenanne – Neville Cup Semi-Final

Pembroke edged the first official encounter of top two this year but were almost dragged into extra time despite dominating for large periods. In a scrappy first half, Ian Symons drag-flick on 10 minutes separated the sides.
Sheer brilliance from Stephen Doran though, meant that’s how it stayed at the break. His double save on the hooter came after Alan Sothern robbed Devin Kehoe and fed John McInroy. His rocketing shot was plucked out of the air. The rebound fell to Justin Sheriff who played in Sothern but from three yards, Doran scrambled to save a point-bank effort.

Pembroke’s second goal a minute after the break, though, was unstoppable. McInroy produced an outrageous one-handed drag back from the end line to Ronan Flannery who selflessly passed up an open goal to lay off for Alan Giles. The broke drew further heroics out of Doran as Paddy Good’s pull back pulled the keeper out of position. He managed to recover in time to first save Sothern’s shot with his knee at the top D before scurrying to his near post to block Gordy Eliott’s chance.

And with ten minutes left, the Glens got back a lifeline – David Shaw blasting home a knee breaker off Stephen O’Keefe’s boot from a short corner. Pembroke protested in vein to umpire Geoff Conn about its height. In the final throes, they almost forced extra time – a booming hit from left-back Paul Fitzpatrick found Brendan Parsons on the back line and his deflection almost snuck in. Parsons forced home at the second attempt but Conn’s whistle had just blown for a prior infringement.

From the ensuing free out, Wanderers broke quickly, finding themselves in a 4 on 1 with only Richie Shaw covering. Sheriff found McInroy for the simplest of tap-ins and the 3-1 win.

Were you at the game? Did you see it differently ? Have you say...

33 comments:

Anonymous said...

doran showed he still has what it takes. pulling off some class saves, ok, he was on the losing side, but i think he answered all his critics. well done ste.
Clive K

Anonymous said...

Thought Glens were a bit unlucky but Doran did have a great game...good to see him proving his critics wrong. Well done steve

Anonymous said...

doran played a stormer in the match, i believe he still has wat it takes to play at the top level for a number of years, and has really answerd his critics.

Anonymous said...

intresting result no doubt the first of many confrontations between these clubs this season. It sounds like Pembroke are finally playing the way everbody expects them to against the big teams. Doran obviously had a point to prove and he appears to have done just that.

Anonymous said...

In a previous post i Critisied Dorans displays this season.

Credit were credit is due - he played well last night - kept glenanne in the game with some fine saves.

Keep up the form

Clive

Anonymous said...

Great to see McInroy and Symons score and create all the goals for Pembroke. Hometown talent shining through.

Alan

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

al stiring the pot again i see!!!

Tucker said...

Yeah Symo was born in the combe

Anonymous said...

Alan Giles scored the other one and is from Leixlip too. That's a whole different county. Hardly homegrown. They should all be banned. Funny accents on the lot of them. Down with that sort of thing.

Anonymous said...

How do people feel Three Rock v Fingal will go. Everybody seems obsessed with Rovers at the moment but i actually fancy Fingal. There a tough side

Dougal said...

I think Rovers could find it tough against Fingal. I think rovers have alot more "individual" talent but Fingal are good at grinding out a result.
As for YM winning a cup this year!! I think there is more chance of Bolton winning the premiership!!

Anonymous said...

I believe three rock have the far stronger squad and it will be interesting to see if Turlock fields a full strenghth team v's fingal!all in all 3rock have by far the better team and have proven this by beating them 2-0 already this season....rovers and the Glenns in the league in a couple of weeks will be a huge fixture and i fancy rovers scrapping that tie aswell!There starting 11 bar two individuals the gleens have are far superior.

Anonymous said...

I think Fingal will turn them over to....
The Bane brothers are playing well and they are a tough team with a never say die attitude.......

Anonymous said...

the league game will be a completely different game wait and see...

Anonymous said...

This neville cup is turning into the senior leagues version of the walter & galtrim cup - its meaningless & players are not really pushed on it.

Senior clubs are putting out weakened teams to play in it.

The league, Irish Cup and club championships and europe are the true test.

Maybe its time to scrap it ? Better to have less but better quality competitions for our best players.

Anonymous said...

Glens really lack a threat up front and are leaking goals at the back,they will always get goals from corners with the threat of Butler and Brennan from the top but outside this i can see them struggling,johnny goulding was always good for a goal or two and he is a huge loss for a team like glenanne.I predict things to carry on as they are at present for the rest of the season with Pembroke edging the Glens in all competitions, however the fact that the two strongest teams in Ireland are in Leinster can only be a good thing...

Anonymous said...

To say that players are not interested I dont think is not true and I dont think teams field weaker players unless they are forced through injury or Ireland commitments.
From my experince of the competition it has been both competitive and enjoyable. I think most players want to play games as much as they can.
TRR may struggle against Fingal without Maguire and McConnell.

Anonymous said...

As anon said earlier, the Neville Cup is a little down the pecking order of importance specifically with irish internationals barred from playing...
(on second thoughts, am i right here?? I thought I remembered reading somewhere that they could only play domestic league, ISC & CC and none of the domestic cups... although maybe this is only after a certain date??) However, it does still represent a great opportunity for fringe & development players to step up to the mark and prove their abilities.
I also know that some clubs in the past have fielded their U21 teams in the competition to give them some match practise before the U21 cup in the new year!
TRR v Fingal... tough to call... a league win this season for rovers but a league hammering at the end of last season... could go either way :-)

Anonymous said...

seems like a good result to me when internationals couldn't play yet pembroke still have 7 or 8 other international players to field. its simply a difference of squad sizes and would be the same for any opposition of pembrokes. as for the importance of the trophy, with the amount of games the so called top 2 teams in the country have, you would have to expect some of the competitions to take a back seat.

Anonymous said...

fingal look to have the winning of this tie i think.with a lot to prove after getting beaten at home at the start of the year. They've come on leaps and bounds since that game and with TRR's loss of two key players Fingal should grab this chance with two hands. Fingal to go through on my books.

Anonymous said...

It does look like pembroke will have the edge over the glens this season.

Glenanne are going to struggle without j goulding - hes a big player for them - very underated.

Hes back in the new year i hear - but mainly for their trip to the European trip at easter.

Im told that Kiaran Bolger is back in training - he should bolster their defence.

Cliff

Anonymous said...

the new year will really show the worth of the leinster teams, with j. goulding back, and pembroke losing symons. could swing a different way, with glenanne gaining and pembroke losing an influencial player.
Clive K

Anonymous said...

yeah its true about bolger, hes coming back,

and devin donnelly and fran de rosa are on the bench for pwhc next week also!!

Anonymous said...

you should know that ciaran bolger is not back in training....where these rumours come from are ridicolous?

Anonymous said...

I don't think Rovers will win anything this season, end of story. They have a poor defense and are very skillful but lightweight in attack. Their achilles heal though, is their attitude. Pembroke will sweep all before them this season. I hope teams like Monkstown and YM progress this season and in the seasons to come. They are leading the way in production of quality talent from their youth sections, and should be rewarded for doing so.

this post has been edited slightly from the original

Anonymous said...

I hear Peter Young is moving back to pembroke, Ross Harding is back in glenanne to challenge Doran for no 1 position and Paudie Carley is covering for S Butler while he is on the international break !!!!

People obviously havent seen ciaran bolger for a while - not a hope in hell that he will be in the glenanne 1st team - hes currently playing thirds in between umpiring.

J Goulding has plans to come back in the new year - holiday / work permitting.

x

Anonymous said...

yes pembroke lose symons but still have corner threats from both harte and sothern,both have proven they can flick from the top and score against any keeper.it will be an interesting final betweeen pem and Trr,bring it on!!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...

I don't think Rovers will win anything this season, end of story. They have a poor defense and are very skillful but lightweight in attack. Their achilles heal though, is their attitude.

to whoever is hiding behind the name anonymous here, rovers have the second best defence in the league,think we have more clean sheets than any other team, have scored a lot of goals,from open-play and now corners, and our attitude is good.with many additions to the squad its hard to get everything right straight away, but team morale is high. we're in the first final of the season, and going well in the league.

Anonymous said...

ye, but the power of symons will be missed, im not doubting sothern or harte, der good, as alan proved last year wen he had a stint at the top of the D. but symons jus has that bit more experience and power, and will be missed, will be interesting to see!!
Clive K

Anonymous said...

The Glens have only been playing in second gear so far this season but when the big games come round you'll see a different team. They still have the best defense and midfield in the country.

Anonymous said...

i don't think its fair to say the Glens are weak up front Graham Shaw has 100 caps for Ireland and Gary Shaw was in the leinster senior side last year. They also have a lot of attacking threat from Butler and Parsons in mibfield.

Anonymous said...

i would completely disagree with the second from last comment about the glens having the best defence in the country, surely the facts speak for themselves with glens already having one of the worst defensive records in the leinster league to date this season...The Glens play well as a team and pose a threat to anybody on their day but I dont think you'll find many people nationwide that would agree with those comments