Saturday, September 13, 2008

Neville Cup round-up

Monkstown – Pembroke
One game in and controversy reigns already. The Pembroke-Monkstown match will create an administrative headache for the Leinster Branch after the ‘Town turned up to Rathdown for their 1.30pm tip-off but Pembroke did not.

Pembroke sent in an appeal to the Branch management committee to postpone the game on Friday but, due to the short notice, a quorum was not able to be rustled up in time and so no action could be taken in advance of the game.

Pembroke are in England at the moment at Surbiton HC’s Centenary Challenge. Monkstown would be unable, at this point, to fulfill a refix midweek creating a difficulty with the second round due to take place next Saturday.

Three Rock Rovers 6 (Peter Blakeney 3, Mitch Darling 2, Tim Hill) Corinthian 1 (John McInroy)
A stunning fifteen minute spell before half-time yielded Rovers the tie as they turned an early deficit into a 5-1 lead. John McInroy got off his new job as player-coach off to a dream start as he netted at the second attempt in the eighth minute to put Three Rock on the back foot.

But some sharp-shooting from Peter Blakeney and Mitch Darling soon turned the game around, scoring three times between the 20th and 24th minute. Tim Hill got an absolute peach following build-up play from Andy McConnell and Darling and that was pretty much that.

Corinthian gave debuts to American international Nate Coolidge (pictured below right) and Australian Sam Lopsey but there was to be no face-off with former charge, Lucas Piccioli. His release from Corinthian has yet to be finalised.

Kilkenny 1 (Brian Gray) Suttonians 2 (Eoin O’Reilly, Conor Gillett)
Suttonians rode their luck but managed to cause an upset and show a few of their credentials as division two promotion hopefuls once again. Kilkenny hit the post on a couple of occasions and missed a penalty stroke in the game but were trailing in the first half to Eoin O’Reilly’s strike.

Conor Gillett added a second after the break before Brian Gray pulled one back with ten minutes to go but a late barrage did not yield an equaliser.

Clontarf 2 (Rob Abbott, Ciaran McNamara) Glenanne 3 (Eddie O’Malley, Shane O’Donoghue, David Keogh)
Glenanne came away from the bullring with the win but Clontarf came away feeling slightly disappointed not to force extra-time after a few late chances to equalise went abegging.

Glenanne enjoyed huge amounts of possession early on with Eddie O’Malley’s tap in as a reward. But ’Tarf equalised through Rob Abbott to make it 1-1 at half-time.

The youthful pair of Shane O’Donoghue and David Keogh built up a sturdy lead but Ciaran McNamara’s goal and some late chances gave the Leinster senior cup holders a real scare.

Weston 0 YMCA 7 (Mikey Fry 3, Andy Walker 3, Rob Whelan)
YM brought their division one skills to bear in the one major mismatch of the round as they looked untroubled in Griffeen. Mikey Fry and Andy Walker netted hat-tricks while underage international goalkeeper Rob Fitzgerald made his senior debut between the posts.

Second round draw: UCD's clash with Naas was postponed to Tuesday night as is Fingal's tie with Avoca at Newpark. Combined with the uncertainty over the Pembroke match, the second round has a very uncertain look but here is how it stands at this point:

Suttonians vs Railway Union
Monkstown/Pembroke vs Glenanne
UCD/Naas vs YMCA
TRR vs Avoca/Fingal
* Down in Cork, Railway performed well to draw with Cork C of I but Avoca struggled, losing out 8-0.

26 comments:

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

where would we find all these photos taken at matches?

Stephen Findlater said...

Basically, I'm away on holidays in a couple of hours but what I will be doing when I come back is to get all of Adrian's pictures online and into a slideshow.

Will be in two weeks time. In the meantime, drop me a mail and I can forward the recent ones that have been taken.

Anonymous said...

Is the Lucas Picioli registration scandal sour grapes from corinthians?

Anonymous said...

think its over not paying his subscription for a couple of years or something on those lines.

Anonymous said...

Monkstown should be awarded a walkover due to a Pembroke no show...

Queso said...

If it's over not paying his membership subscription, as alleged by anonymous, then Corinthians need to be very careful on this one as there's huge legal ramifications....

1. This implies he was not a bona fide member of Corinthians HC during this time.

2. Corinthians were knowingly selecting a player that was not a member of their club.

3. As a result this would call into question insurance liability and their results in Leinster and Irish competitions.

The only facts I'm aware of is that Corinthians have not released him yet despite being requested to do so, hence he could not be selected for the Neville Cup match.

The reasons for this I don't know!

Anonymous said...

pwhc wanted this game changed to play in a presteigeious tournament in surbiton and to better irish hockey???if this is the case why where the pwhc players on the piss over there on the sat night???surely not the best way to prepare ???

Anonymous said...

Monkstown should be awarded this game - & furthermore Pembroke should have points deducted off them in the league.

Points deduction is the only way that will discourage Pembroke and other clubs from showing disrespect to their opposition and Leinster Branch in future.

Id would see a 6 point deduction a fair punishment

Anonymous said...

forget a points deduction throw them out of the league,they continuosly disrespect other teams and the league blah blah blah foreign players,paid coach blah blah blah...

another season same old same old bulls**t

Anonymous said...

I dont understand why would u decide to go away to a tournament on the weekend the season starts? why wouldnt they just go somewhere else last weekend? surely theres more tournaments on elsewhere. same wit avoca and railway! just dont understand, surely someone looks ahead and sees when 1st game is on, then whos bright idea is it to say oh lets go away that weekend.. stupidity.. if any games didnt take place on sat or even sun then teams should have been given w/o, and should be banned fom taking part in comp next year if they want to disregard it lik that!

Anonymous said...

If your going to suggest point deduction which is a serious matter and punishment please have the balls to put your name at the end of your comment instead of stirring the pot and acting like a coward.

Pembroke had flights booked for this tournament several months ago and made the Leinster branch aware of it. UCD have postponed their game because Naas couldn't field a team and they weren't playing in a prestigious tournament organised months ago. Avoca's game was also postponed.

So should all these teams be deducted points? Or is this the usual small minded jealous behavior trying to hold back the advancements and friendships with clubs aboard which will help the future of Irish hockey and benefit other Irish clubs.

So I'd appreciate if the person who left the comment suggesting point deductions would think before opening their mouth and know the full facts. Do you still suggest point deductions or do you think maybe Monkstown would like to play Pembroke and earn their win and prove their an up and coming team that we can expect big things from. Or they can take the easy way out and miss out on a genuine opportunity to take revenge after their disappointing display in the Irish Senior Cup Final last year.

Anonymous said...

There should definately be more responsibility on clubs to fulfill fixtures when they are scheduled. The number of posponements in Leinster hockey for crazy reasons is undermining the league. Play the games when scheduled - not just when best suits you. Then its the same for everyone

Anonymous said...

i don't think its Pemprokes problem. They applied for and from what i hear were given a "postponement". What are the branch playing at giving a postponement on a Friday evening??? A bit ridiculous.....

Anonymous said...

why didnt pem play there 2nd string as what they did in last years final....and got the thumping they deserved...was it because they were afraid that there neighbours would destroy them??...i hear it was pem, 2 uni teams and a english leauge side...class?do what monkstown did and went to holland for good hockey..pre-season and i think in plenty of time for the domistic start, and flights booked months ago...PEMBROKE BRING ON THE BAD PRESS THEMSELVES...europeans are at easter...just in case pembroke miss it..yellow jersey fan

Anonymous said...

as far as i know pembroke booked their flights months ago when they were invited to the tournament and made the leinster branch aware of it. they were due to play surbiton, comprising 6 gb players from beijing and brett garrard the ex-gb cpt and first reserve on the squad as well as the pakistan club champions. in the end the pakistan team had to pull out cuz they couldnt get visas and pembroke ended up playing surbiton twice instead. im sure the standard of opposition was far better than monkstowns second rate dutch sides, remember universities in eng are far more successful than those here (no offence intended but loughborough are an ehl side and other unis have current internationals in their ranks). im not sure why they didnt put out a second string side, presumably they will have to anyway because none of their internationals will be playing but i suppose why should they if they had warned the leinster branch months ago? seems people are pretty quick to jump on them here without really knowing whats going on. as it is i would expect a monktown team to beat a pembroke side without their internationals and sherriff who is injured, surely that is a better way to go through

Anonymous said...

Where are the clear-cut rules written on how to deal with cancelations/re-fixes/postponements for Leinster Fixtures? Nowhere; because there are none.

It's all down to the Fixtures Committee, who determine ad-lib on each ruling. Resulting in conflicting decisions on similar situations.

Hence all the drama.

Mick McG

Anonymous said...

yellow jersey fan you are really showing the level of intelligence and open mindedness that umpires in leinster posses with a comment like that. the tournament pembroke took part in was a celebration of surbitons centenary and one which they accepted an invitation to last april when they were over there playing some warm up games for the club champs.As for monkstown going to holland for some "good hockey", i sincerely doubt that the hockey they played even nearly reached the level pembroke would have faced in Eng as the aforementioned tournament involved pembroke playing two challenge games against surbiton mens first XI, a squad boasting 6 current GB internationals just back from Beijing, 2 former GB internationals and numerous other international players from other nations (Scot,Can,Wales,SA).the third game of the weekend was against Exeter university,a team pushing for promotion to the premier div.get your facts straight before you start typing and ensure your posting isnt as narrow minded and mis-informed as usual.

Anonymous said...

I think you will find that UCD & Trinity are always granted a number of free weekends at the start of the season to organise themselves following the influx of new students. This was the original reason for the prosponment neither mind Naas not being able to field a side.

Anonymous said...

Firstly to "Anonymous" who calls "Anonymous" a coward for not putting their name to the post - pot kettle black i think !

Pembroke should be deducted 6
points - anyclub who does similar should also be deducted points. Its very simple and effective punishement.

If this was one of the less "Beautiful" clubs - people would have no hesitation in deducting points.

S W -

Anonymous said...

Anyway,enouigh of all this rubbish.Does anyone really care whats going on with all the blazers?What about all the hat-tricks scored last weekend!Looks like it could be an exciting season in general. And the bar seems to be getting set higher and higher in Division one

Anonymous said...

Both Railway and Avoca had accepted an invitation to play in Cork prior to the fixtures list becoming available.

Pembroke similar-accepted nearly 6 months ago.

The branch have clear procedures on postponements. You ask them, give them a reason. If the reason is deemed acceptable they ok it. as long as its ok with the other team whats the problem?

Postponemnets are an inevitable part of the season. If you look at the fixtures some of the Irish cups are due to be played on the same day as league matches.

Anonymous said...

""presteigeious tournament in surbiton"" what nonsense -

What about the presteigeious leinster branch competition !

I Have to totally agree about the points deduction as a fitting punishment for avoiding games, ALL teams that disrespect the Administration of the Cups & Leagues should be punished

- ALL teams not just Pembroke - we are talking about pembroke here because they cleary showed a total disrepect to monkstown last weekend.

Clubs cannot pick and choose when they want to play - its very simple.

If pembroke are not punished then the branch will be left open to further abuse by clubs.

Anonymous said...

The Fact that pembroke were playing in surbiton is not the point. They applied for a postponement to the fixtures committee and it was denied, they then told the branch they could not field a team. How can the biggest club in the country not be able to field a team. The fact that the branch still has'nt made a decision yet is an even bigger joke.

Anonymous said...

Pembroke should be banned from all competitions in leinster hockey - thats the only way we can sort this serious crime to humanity - and when i say all i mean ALL from their First Team to their Vets - Men & Women.

Next we can go after Fingal & Glenanne and then maybe smithfield and Navan

Soon we will have a nice boyz league,

Anonymous said...

why did corintians get there league games moved when they went away. pembroke put their request in in july. the only reason this is happening is because its pembroke and eveybody hates us because they are good. by the way UNLUCKY TOWN 3:0, lads u need improvement
Pembroke till i die!!!!