Sunday, November 25, 2007

Senior League Round-ups

Men: Corinthian 6 (Lucas Piccioli 2, Chris Pelow 2, David Carson, Jack Kirwan) UCD 3 (Robbie McFarlane, Glenn Holmes, David Storey): A five-star second half performance from Corinthians saw them overcome a half-time deficit and deny the students their first points of the season. The sides went in at half-time at 2-1. But a big turnaround at Whitechurch Park saw Coritnthians home. Youngsters Jack Kirwan and Davy Carson both got on the scoresheet. The win sees them into sixth place but a win in their game in hand against Rovers would move the side up to third. As it happens, losses for Rovers at Glenanne and Monkstown at home to Pembroke and they should take the spot with a win in Bray.

Kilkenny 1 (Lloyd Pearson) Monkstown 4 (Brian Groves 2, Simon Groves, Alan Lewis) A solid away win in the Cats den has seen Monkstown continue their current, quiet form as they have stealthily moved into a tie for third place. The Groves' brothers did the damage at Kilkenny College and they will also be anxious viewers when Rovers play Corinthians - that match will have an increasingly important bearing on the destination of the All-Ireland league spots.

Women: Pembroke 1 Hermes 1
As with all encounters between the top four this season, it ended in stalemate between two of the title chasers but this was hardly a dull affair. Hermes took a deserved lead after 20 minutes with Pembroke on the back foot in an intense, physical encounter. Hermes, indeed, had chances to double their lead before the break. Pembroke fought back in the second half, equalising from a Siobhan Kane pile-driver from the left. Pembroke could have snatched the win, too, when Shona Doyle's cut-back just narrowly missed the on-rushing forward. On balance, a fair result to a fantastic game - the value of a win against a rival at the top becomes increasingly valuable.

The point gives Pembroke the lead at the top but they are in the bizarre situation of having three unbeaten sides below them in the league. They face another biggie this Saturday when they host Railway who trail by one point.
Trinity 3 (D Costigan, M Horan, C Hearnden) Corinthian 0
Trinity continued their strong run this season and have now already won more games than last season after just eight outings. Former club captain Danielle Costigan opened the scoring in a match that probably confirms their safety this season already with wins at a premium throughout the league.

Alex 3 (S Markey, B Fitzgerald, Z Dahl) Genesis 1 (L Barrie)
Alex stay in touch with the leading pack with a win against bottom of the table Genesis. Genesis, though, unlike a number of the sides at the bottom are probably cursed by their endeavour. Their attempts under Maarten Sier to play attractive hockey has seen them caught short at the back where rivals have striven to have greater numbers in defence.

Loreto 3 (Z Delaney, C Greally, N Keegan) TRL 1 (L Lehane)
Loreto move to within a point of Railway in third, albeit with an extra game played with a routine victory over ninth place TRL.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Siobhan Kane got Pembroke Ladies' equaliser on Monday night. Fantastic match..really great stuff on show, the Ladies Div 1 League has really become more competitive in the last couple of years which can only be a good thing.

Pembroke v Railway this weekend is a biggie..

Anonymous said...

Regarding the Corinthians UCD game, the match was finely balanced at 4-3 with about 15 minutes to go. Both teams were really going for it and it was an open and attractive game. Then the ref showed Hugh Butler a VERY harsh red card which completely changed the game.

Anonymous said...

I watched piccioli play for Corinthians on sat against UCD...he is a huge threat to almost any side, and is a player the youngsters.ie Kirwan and Carson could learn alot off with his knowledge of the game, don't think chc are strong enough for a top 3 finish though!...Brian D

Anonymous said...

As a spectator of the game and coming from the corinthians stand I do believe the red card was very harsh, but the same player had already received a yellow card 10 minutes prior to this tackle. Although the tackle wasnt bad enough for a red maybe the umpire made his decision on that. Corinthians are playing some great hockey at the moment though and with that young forward line and top coaches in Darley and overington things look very bright for the future.