Sunday, January 11, 2009

Men's IHL: Instonians 3 Pembroke 2

Instonians 3 (Chris Kirk, Chris Barnes, Mark Irwin) Pembroke 2 (Alan Sothern 2)

For almost an hour, Pembroke looked good value for a win but for the second time within a year they threw away a commanding lead in the closing stages of a match with Instonians. Last time round, the Broke let a 3-0 lead slip in the ISC but recovered to win in extra-time.

This time, they let a 2-0 lead go in the last 12 minutes against a side whose star is very much on the way back up. Inst dished out a 4-1 thrashing to Annadale on Saturday and have leaped in recent times from sixth up to third in Ulster and in contention for the league and continued their rise this afternoon.

Alan Sothern - returning to the side along with Tim Lewis - gave the Leinster side an early lead on the quarter-hour with a rising reverse, preceding two green-card sin-binnings for Ronan Gormley and Conor Harte.

Sothern doubled the difference three minutes into the second half from a corner and continued to enjoy the majority of the play. The lead remained intact until the 59th minute when Chris Kirk drove home from the edge of the circle.

The prolific Chris Barnes had the game back level soon after with low shot from a corner, putting the outcome into the balance. And this time the winner went the Old Boy's way as Mark Irwin continued his recent scoring form to steal the win with 90 seconds on the clock.

Pembroke got an even later chance to tie but a short-corner and subsequent long corner were well cleared and so earned just a bonus point for their efforts.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

This group is really competitive with 5 of the 6 teams looking like they can qualify. Glens to get through & impossible at the moment to say who the 2nd team will be - Instonians look like the coming team though.

Anonymous said...

who would you say the team that don't look like qualifying are?

Anonymous said...

When will we have a decision on the Cookstown v Annadale match? There appears to be no end in sight.

Anonymous said...

Not sure what the ending will be!! However legal issues do tend to drag out over months, not weeks!! I hope this issue dosen't overshadow the first season of the new league! Get it sorted!!!

Anonymous said...

As stated in the email above legal proceedings can drag out for a very long time. If it does drag out to the end of the hockey season, what will happen then?

Anonymous said...

After reading Johnny Wattersons article earlier in the week I am not sure how they can sort it quickly at all. They seem to have got themselves in a terrible mess...allowing games to go ahead while an appeal is still being heard etc. This then drags other clubs in to the situation as surely if IHA make a ruling, any game played before that ruling MAY be null and void!! My question on the whole thing is who is ultimately accountable for this whole mess. It has to be the CEO of Irish Hockey. if this was a business then he would have been asked to quietly resign over a matter like this long ago. Who WILL get the blame.....the poor volunteers who were asked to give uo their time to help Irish Hickey out in trying to create a new league. Feel sorry for the two Ulster clubs involved as I am sure both want to move on BUT am extremely worried about what actions will happen next once the appeal ruling is known. Will we have a replay of Pembroke vs Inst, Monkstown vs Garvey etc and who is going to foot the bill for teams from here travelling up North again to play these matches!
For an association and new league looking sponsors it is an embarrassment of the highest order. Also for the record I still think that long term Pembroke and Glenanne will qualify. Haven't seen much domestic hockey in the north but just dont feel they have the strength in depth that is here in Dublin......only my opinion.