Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Mills Cup: Three Rock Rovers 1 Monkstown 2

Three Rock Rovers 1 (Lucas Piccioli) Monkstown 2 (Zac Dutton, Ian Horsfield)

Monkstown booked a place in the Mills Cup semi-finals showing good value for their 2-1 win over Three Rock Rovers last night at Grange Road.

Gareth Watkins and Ian Allen went close in the early stages before Zac Dutton netted a drag-flick from their second corner. Lucas Piccioli levelled in the second half, exchanging a one-two to round David Fitzgerald after Andy McConnell pinched the ball off Filip Jaros.

But Ian Horsfield ended up being the hero, both winning and converting the Town's third corner - bucking their regular trend with a 66pc success rate from set-pieces . Rovers had a late chance from their first corner but Fitzgerald pulled off an excellent double save whilst Alan Bothwell was sin-binned for deliberately taking the ball down from over shoulder-height.

Brian Mellon, meanwhile, made his first-team comeback for Rovers at right-back after his travels.

38 comments:

Anonymous said...

good stuff. they may be a few points behind in the league but 'town showing that they are well able to mix it up with the big sides as finagl showed in IHL.

Anonymous said...

not taking anything away from a good result for monkstown but did TRR play a full side,,,who do monkstown play now

Stephen Findlater said...

Reasonably full side - no Mitch Darling or Phelie Maguire, neither of whom have played yet this year and long-term injuries Gavin Bourke and David Storey but thats all from the knowledge I have to hand.

They play either Clontarf or Pembroke

Anonymous said...

No charlie henderson either

Anonymous said...

Would there be many clubs who would have a problem if their 1st choice keepers were injured?

Anonymous said...

To be fair the apprentice made a lot of good saves in the game so unfair to say missing charlie, he wouldn't have made a difference.

Anonymous said...

I know fingal would have problems if there firsts keeper was injured

Anonymous said...

YM probably have the best seconds keeper in Graham Woods.

Anonymous said...

I'd say Corninthians have the best in Ross Gribben having played against him this year

Anonymous said...

to be honest i reckon pembroke have the best in nigel henderson,end of discussion!!

Anonymous said...

Ah no, Ross Gribben was very good against Glenanne recently!

Anonymous said...

I would agree with the YM and Corinthians suggestion. very good keepers in Woods and Gribben. What about glenanne? what is there 2nd team keeper like? Or what about monkstown?

Anonymous said...

monkstown's 2nd keeper is craig ellis. 20 years old having another excellent season. YM 2nds players will probably attest to that fact.

Anonymous said...

Why was towns first goal disallowed?

Anonymous said...

Yeah another cracking deflection from Coley why was it disallowed?

Anonymous said...

Geoff said it was raised into the dee

Anonymous said...

watched the game last night, and being a monkstown supporter im delighted! chances are there now to step and win the cup after a great performance like that. got to admit that three rocks defence was very solid and feel sorry for them as the forward line produced nothing for the team. seems like they are having problems in front of goal right now against 1st division teams.

Anonymous said...

glens would b in trouble...doran damaged knee ligaments and played all december!!!

Anonymous said...

Sounds as tho the wheels are falling off at Three Rock. All the EHL and Galacticos talk seems as it may have gone to their heads. Maybe believing their own internally created hype!!

Anonymous said...

internal hype? so they didn't really win the neville cup, leinster league and club championships last season? and they didn't qualify to EHL KO16 which will inevitably get ireland two places in EHL next season?

form is temporary, class is permanent.

Anonymous said...

Did well to make EHL KO16, will give ya's that. But are you a liverpool fan aswell?? Seem to be living in the past. I have a feeling TRR could be cursing the fact that they fielded a weakend side against YM in the neville cup. With their so called "permanent" class, i would say they would struggle for silverware this season. Maybe the indoor..if your lucky lads!

Anonymous said...

I think to be fair to TRR they have to be looking to peak for EHL and Euro indoor which does not lend itself to peaking at right times for irish competitons although with irish indoor and euros so close together they have to be strong favourites to retain that.

Queso said...

I hear Corinthians are mustard keen for indoor this year and are training hard... haven't heard much about anyone else... pity the nordies pulled out in the end though.

They did come down and compete in the NBA once back in the 90's but were well beaten.

Anonymous said...

You have to remember they have had McConnell out for a long time, Phelie away, Mitch restricted to a small amount of games and Charlie has had trouble being regurlary available. Basically all their irish players have been in and out.

Anonymous said...

boooo hooo. You are probably one of those people that said that Glenanne are nothing without there star players. Shoe is on the other foot now mate. Its a team game. Hypocrisy is thy name!!!

Anonymous said...

Also, judging by Rovers results this last couple of months they were far from guaranteed to beat YM even with a full strength team..

Anonymous said...

Neither Maguire nor Darling have scored a league goal this season to my recollection either when they have been playing so I cant see what big difference they will make to the end results of games.

People are forgetting that the reason TRR had so much success last year was Maarten Sier and his dragflicks,won them the league and the club champs

Unknown said...

There are a lot of anonymous comments in recent weeks that have been very 'Snidy' to say the least.
About 2/3 div teams not been good enough, attack on clubs etc.
Hockey in general is a minority sport in ireland, i dont understand the bickering that goes on this site (steve it is superb site for getting accurate info on all games) but to subject players to ridicule cause they are playing where they are happy or as high as their talent will take them. Its a discrace.
Also, so what if TRR win nothing this year....what difference is it to You? (example only)It wont make us train/play any different to previous years, or change our desire to win and be successful in hamburg at easter.
It seems to me that 'Anonymous' has a huge chip on his shoulder. deal with in on the pitch and not hiding in website forum.
Stephen, is there another way to leave comments that people can be accountable for what they write? Getting pissed off reading the same type of comments all the time (from what is likely be a handful of people).

Anonymous said...

I think the self-tagged 'Rovers galacticos' was a flash in the pan.Serves them right.

Anonymous said...

All i was saying is that TRR seem to have burned out. and that you cant use the fact that Darling and Maguire are not around as an excuse. To be honest i think Bourke is a big loss for you guys, he was class in the EHL and will be key in Hamburg. And i also think silverware is silverware, should of put more effort towards that semi-final of the neville cup!

Guy with chip

Anonymous said...

While we are on topic of Three Rock does anyone know if they have formally appointed a new coach yet?

Anonymous said...

You would think that with all Rovers achieved last year, and with everything they are currently doing for Irish hockey as a whole in the EHL, that people would give them some support.
True, Galacticos may have been a bit of a self-important comment but cut them some slack.!! What harm is it they got knocked out of this competition when they still have European indoor, domestic indoor, Irish Senior Cup, IHL,leinster league, and EHL to concentrate on. Its no use them winning every game at this stage when they need to peak much later in the season. Instead of taking pleasure in a small blip in their form why not try and get over yourself and your jealousy and support them

Anonymous said...

sorry, know tis is in the wrong place, but would like to pose the qustion to readers. I'm just back from the branch umpires meeting/workshop open to all. Ray O'Connor made an interesting point about "an excellent umpire" who has stepped down due to something that happened after a game. I don't neccessarily want to know all the details, but "excellent" umpires as judged by ROC are thin on the ground, and why have we lost such an umpire, and if players/clubs were involved, has action been taken. Listening to some of the answers out of our yellow wearing friends, we need MORE excellent umpires, not less.

Anonymous said...

Its a common trend on this site, teams become successful and then they get slated week in week out for what ever reason. Happens with the three best teams in leinster (TRR, Pembroke, Glennane) regularly. Needless to say its the petty players from the weak clubs making these comments. Maybe they should concentrate on their own clubs and give us something to slate them about instead of laughing at their results week in week out.

Anonymous said...

Charlie,that was the most sensible thing said on the site in the past couple of mad days . I will now admit to posting anon . My post was pretty much along the lines of yours so I totally agree with what you said. There is more to life than playing 1st team hockey and certainly bragging about it says more about a person than they realise themselves . I am finished playing hockey for a good few years now , but still involved in coaching ladies and kids hockey. My career was almost all in Div 3& 2. I played when Div 2 was the old way with 2nd teams and many years ago the same argument went on for a long time as the Leinster Branch debated the change and I was involved in that debate . I'm sure glad they changed it as I got that chance to sample Div 1 when we proved good enough to win Div 2 in the new format . I will always treasure that season even though we went back down .
As I said already in a previous post , if people feel strongly on the issue , get off this blog and do something about . Get involved in the Leinster Branch if you care so much about the direction the leagues are taking the future players in the province.

I have no allegiance to any mens club but I have an interest in what Rovers do and those who make the 'snide' comments as Charlie says have little to be doing . Trophies are won at the end of the season not in January . Rovers are coached by a very very shrwed guy who knows what it takes to have his squad peaking when it matters most . They have a very very long season this year and they should have the full backing of everyone in Irish Hockey when they head to the EHL in April . That may be idealistic to expect but again Charlie has it right , we are a minority sport craving for support and media coverage and I for one will be watching and hoping that Rovers can 'YET AGAIN' raise it for the big occassions like they have done on numerous times in the past 12 months .

Anonymous said...

Well said Charlie. People should have the guts to use their name if they are going criticise teams and especially players. Am only back in the Country after a few years away and having been to a couple of Div 1 games recently, the standard has really come on since I played. Its a credit to the players, teams, Leinster branch and IHU. Especially a team like Fingal who have shown small clubs that it is possible to mix it with the big boys. So how about supporting the league and sport instead of having cheap shots at other teams. Rivaly is all well and good but I think we all want the same thing and that is hockey moving into mainstream sports. Great site Stephen. Congrats

Anonymous said...

yeah fingal had a descent 2s keeper last year havent seen him around this year.

Anonymous said...

I was one of those anonymous posters, but only attempting to get a rise from a couple of mates who play for Rovers. We can take things a little too seriously at times i think. Nothing wrong with a little banter that doesnt get personal on this site is there? Isnt the idea of a blog to pst news and create discussion?

Aslo, Bray to get promoted if Filthy Phil Davis starts drag flicking on corners again!!