Thursday, November 6, 2008

Men's Division One preview

Fingal begin the weekend top of division for the first time in their history and will hope to hold the position after the sixth round of matches as they hosts YMCA.

This season, the club has produced some amazing comebacks, overturning a 3-1 half-time deficit against Corinthian to win 5-3, a late tie with Pembroke and afinal whistle David Bane goal to seal the points against UCD.

Co-coach John McInerney says his side “got out of jail” against the students buthas shown great mental fortitude thus far: “We have a habit of coming from behind. I’d really prefer to be way out ahead but we have that belief that, in the last 15 minutes, we can pull something out.”

One thing of concern for Fingal, though, is the number of sin-binnings they have picked up - five thus far this term. Another is the loss of Ben Chillingworth (pictured above) with a knee injury for a few weeks at the very least while David Bane carriesa slight groin strain but should be available for the visit of YMCA. YM look a team revived after a four-week break.

They won their first game of the season on Tuesday, beating UCD 3-1 with David Robinson and Andy Walker making their returns from injury while Patrick Good and Graham O’Neill made first starts since joining the club.

McInerney adds "YM are a very different side from the one that started the season. They play nice open hockey so it'll be a good game."

Last year, Fingal again recovered from a 2-1 deficit to win with two goals in the last five minutes and have the hex on YM, having not lost at home or away for almost five years.

Elsewhere, Three Rock return from their European adventure with a home tie against Corinthian for whom Brian Doherty returns. Railway host Pembroke in a local derby, Franny Lee visits the old school for Monkstown and Kilkenny while Glenanne play UCD.

Division Two has a couple of crackers in store. Clontarf and Dublin Uni's four matches to date this season have produced 31 goals but the north Dublin battle between Skerries and Suttonians sees the current top two lock horns. Weston play Navan for the second time in a week and Bray face Naas.

Division 1:
Three Rock Rovers vs Corinthians, 3pm, Grange Road; Kilkenny vs Monkstown, 1pm, Kilkenny College; Railway Union vs Pembroke Wanderers, 12pm, Park Avenue; Glenanne vs UCD, 1pm, Glenanne Park; Fingal vs YMCA, 12.45pm, ALSAA

Division 2:
Bray vs Naas, 2.45pm, Loreto Bray; Clontarf vs Dublin University, Mount Temple; Skerries vs Suttonians, 1pm, Skerries; Weston vs Navan, 2.30pm, Esker

31 comments:

Mick McG said...

Any chance on a Mens Division 2 league in the right column? It'd be handy to refer to the table as you read news on it.

Anonymous said...

any predictions?????

Anonymous said...

Top 4 teams in the league to win and a Monkstown win also. Cant see any major surprises.

Anonymous said...

wonder if three rock will suffer a bit of a european hang over? Might be a good week for corinthians to play against them

Anonymous said...

could alsoo be a vbad weekend

Mick McG said...

Going to stick my neck out with some predictions...

Fingal vs YMCA 3-1
Like stevie said, we got the hex on them!

Kilkenny vs Monkstown 1-2
Kilkenny are solid enough. Factor in the trip down and Town's lack of corners.

Corinthian vs TRR 2-4
Open game. TRR may be tired after EHL. Both capable of scoring goals.

Railway vs PW 1-4
Railway have some good results. How much is due to 11 behind the ball I wonder? Pembroke too strong for them.

Glennane vs UCD 2-0
UCD have a very decent keeper and are well drilled. Glennane might rest the international boys and struggle to crack UCD.

Anonymous said...

You certainly have stuck yer neck out there Mick.Monday may be interestnig on the Hook!!

Anonymous said...

I cant believe Mick Mcg has just jinxed his own team.

Mad Dog, we will be having words before the game tmrw!! :-)

Anonymous said...

Did Mick have the day off today?

Anonymous said...

in mens div 2 i predict easy wins for bray,clontarf and weston.the match to watch is against skerries and suttonians after suttonians beat skerries in extra time in the cup final last year .should be a great match to close to call.

Anonymous said...

As a Fingal player I can only hope that was not Mick! If it was you've to a new level of "cannot say for Findlater removing this comment" Wise up!

Will be a very even match with YM slight favourites on last weeks results!! ;-)

Looking forward to a good one!

Anonymous said...

Fair play to Mick putting his thoughts out there. Maximum respect is due!

Anonymous said...

top 4 team get a win im afraid to anonymous no.3 that monkstown are a top 4 team!!

Anonymous said...

who the hell is mick mcg?!

Anonymous said...

not at the moment we're not!

Anonymous said...

Skerries Beat Sutts in a cracker 4-3 final score with Skeries being 3-1 mid way through the second half. Another hatrick from Ali McMahon and one for Ronan Gannon

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Stephen Findlater said...
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Stephen Findlater said...

I received a mail from Suttonians, wishing to aplogise for some of the comments that have appeared on the site regarding umpire decisions. This sort of behaviour is in no way condoned by the club.

As such, I've removed the offending comments as I don't believe they are particularly helpful and have been assured the club is working hard to stamp out this problem.

Anonymous said...

Isnt it great how Division 2 hockey can create such interest. Keep up the good work Stephen you seemed to be very busy deleting at the weekend, maybe we should start a "RESPECT" campaign just like in premiership soccer.

Anonymous said...

Hey Tom umpiring of Sats game Skerries against Sutton was fine, we always expect a though game against Skerries, we had no problem with the umpiring when 3-1 up and cruising we only started to have a problem with umpires when things were level and when Skerries went 4-3 simple fact of the matter we stopped playing as a team after that and tried to work everything through Muktar in midfield who then lost it and hit Brian Mc Mahon on the forehead with his stick, excellent game from Rauler who marked Allen Early all afternoon and kept him scoreless (apparently he has scorded 8 goals in 4 games up to this)no one told us about Alistair Mc Mahon (now has 9 goals in 4 games) Gillette and Darrell also had excellent games these guys need to be brought into the team more as they are a mainstay of this team. Roll on next week we are only 4 games into the season.