Sunday, March 8, 2009

Men's IHL: Round Four results

POOL A
Cookstown 2 (Tim Smyth, David Best) Cork Harlequins 2 (Colin Ross, Eddie Dore)
Cookstown picked up their third successive draw in Pool A but will be disappointed to have dropped points against already eliminated Cork Harlequins who went into the game shy John and Dan Hobbs and Mark Black.

Harlequins hit the front first when Colin Ross scored from a corner second phase. In a similar style, Timmy Smyth made it 1-1 by half-time. David Best gave the hosts the lead, tapping in from close-range before Stephen Cuddy hit the post which could have built a decent wedge between the sides.

And Eddie Dore took advantage of the let off, equalising eight minutes from time from a straight corner strike.

Pembroke 5 (Alan Sothern 3, Tim Lewis, Justin Sherriff) Glenanne 4 (Stephen Butler 3)
Pembroke maintained their second place in the group and - combined with Annadale's 2-1 win over Inst - set up what could be a mouth-watering all-or-nothing tie with Dale in round five of the group games at Serpentine Avenue.

The battle between Leinster's top two saw Alan Sothern - on his return after injury kept him out of the Mills Cup semi-finals - break the deadlock in the sixth minute. He doubled up four minutes later and he completed his hat-trick in the 22nd minute. His international team-mate Stephen Butler pulled one back from the penalty spot before scoring the Glen's eighth corner of the half, giving rise to thoughts of a repeat of their recent league fixture.

Thoughts were made more concrete when Jonny Goulding deflected in, early in the second half to make it 3-3. Tim Lewis, though, stopped the rot when Sothern's corner-shot was redirected in.

And Justin Sherriff secured the win with two minutes to go, flicking over Steven Doran. Butler completed his hat-trick in the last minute to pick up a bonus point. They remain in pole position in the group but will have to wait until the Annadale-Cookstown refix.

Anndale 2 (Peter Purcell, Ian Hamilton) Instonians 1 (Mark Gleghorne)
Annadale nicked the three points at Jordanstown to stay right in the mix for a semi-final spot, winning thanks to Ian Hamilton's 62nd minute penalty-stroke. Peter Purcell opened the scoring in a tightly contested first-half, roofing after a neat combination with Paul Jackson.

Mark Gleghorne equalised from a corner, setting up a lively final quarter. Both sides had chances but the vital moment came Peter Caruth was fouled by Nigel Skillen, giving Hamilton the chance to win the game.

POOL B
Three Rock Rovers 4 (Peter Blakeney, Lucas Piccioli, Michael Maguire, Mitch Darling) Banbridge 1 (Simon Magowan)
Three Rock produced a far from vintage performance but still came away with a bonus point, once again leaving it late before scoring twice in the closing minutes to pick up all four points on offer.
A low-key first half saw Rovers hit the front in the 35th minute when Peter Blakeney rounded off Andy McConnell's through-ball with a reverse that snuck past Gareth Lennox. Bann bossed most of the possession and territory in the early parts of the second period but fell two behind when Lucas Piccioli self-passed a free-in. Initially he looked for a pass but with no defender closing him down, he rolled into the circle and hit home.

Simon Magowan rounded off Eugene Magee's pass to pull one back and had two gilt-edged chances blocked by Charlie Henderson to level within a minute. Rovers were under all sorts of pressure but moved 3-1 ahead from their only corner of the second half as Mikey Maguire slid in to redirect into the backboard.

It left nine minutes for either side to snatch a bonus point. Mitch Darling duffed two efforts before finally finding the net with 100 seconds to go to raise hopes of advancing. They now sit in second place with Cork C of I to play at Grange Road in round five. A draw may be enough as Bann would then need to win by four goals against Monkstown.

Cork C of I 3 (John Jermyn, Jonny Bruton, David Hobbs) Lisnagarvey 2 (Peter MacDonnell, Timmy Cockram)
Cork C of I need just a draw from their final game of Pool B to confirm a semi-final berth after they held off Lisnagarvey's challenge. John Jermyn's low drag-flick was the only goal of the first half, one which C of I had the better half.

Three minutes into the second half, Jonny Bruton doubled the difference when he shot low under David Williamson. Garvey, though, were dominant in the second half with Mark Daniel and Mark Raphael going close before Peter MacDonnell gave the Hillsborough side a lifeline, diving onto former CI man Jason Lynch's cross.

Garvey won eight corners in the second half, one of which came 60 seconds after MacDonnell's goal, awarded just as Lynch rolled into the net.

Instead it was C of I who scored next, David Hobbs flicking in from 15 yards as he finished off a stunning length-of-the-field breakaway move that also involved Jermyn and Bruton on 58 minutes.

Cockram pulled it back to a one-goal game with three minutes to go and had one late corner chance for a draw but Adam Pritchard charged it down to keep C of I's pole-position in the group.

Monkstown 4 (Andrew Ward, Ian Allen, Gareth Watkins, Brian Groves) Fingal 1 (Derek O'Gorman)
Other results in the group rendered this game slightly academic but Monkstown picked up their first win of the IHL, putting one over a side they are currently keeping out of an automatic qualification place for next year's competition.

Ian Horsfield's yellow for a deliberate foot was the main talking point of a quiet first period, preluding a lively second half. Eamon Bane's surging run paved the way for Derek O'Gorman to break the deadlock, flipping over the on-rushing David Fitzgerald.

It drew an immediate upping of the ante from the Town. Andrew Ward (pictured) forced a top save from Nigel Grothier before getting on the end of Brian Groves' cross to level.

Horsfield and Gareth Watkins combined excellently to set-up Ian Allen for the go-ahead goal before Richie Dore was binned. During his time out, Monkstown netted two corners, Watkins netting the first before Brian Groves rounded out the scoring.



* To see Adrian Boehm's pictures from Three Rock Rovers vs Banbridge, click here and for Pembroke vs Glenanne, click here. Deryck Vincent's pictures of Monkstown vs Fingal are here.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cookstwon played very poorly against a depleted Cork side. Lack a good short corner.

Anonymous said...

Pembroke beat Glens 5-3.

Anonymous said...

cookstown are an excellent squad with amazing strength in depth but they need to use that strength in depth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

9 short corners for glens with two goals....not gud enough!!

Anonymous said...

"cookstown are an excellent squad with amazing strength in depth but they need to use that strength in depth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Says a Cookstown second team player anybody?

"9 short corners for glens with two goals....not gud enough!!"

Your dead right, it was nowhere near GOOD enough

Anonymous said...

"cookstown are an excellent squad with amazing strength in depth but they need to use that strength in depth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Says a Cookstown second team player anybody?

"9 short corners for glens with two goals....not gud enough!!"

Your dead right, it was nowhere near GOOD enough

How about you stop slating every team talked about and put forward some positive points.

i take it your just a follower of the sport who has to criticise every team apart from your own.

Anonymous said...

credit where credits due,PWHC defended the corners well i thought and with David Harte in goals its never going to be easy to score direct from flicks

Anonymous said...

Shame to see that youngster carried off in the Fingal game today!

Anonymous said...

"How about you stop slating every team talked about and put forward some positive points.

i take it your just a follower of the sport who has to criticise every team apart from your own."

I haven't slated any teams mate.
My first comment was pointing out that it's probably just a Cookstown second team player who feel they should be playing firsts.
And the second was using the correct spelling of the word good.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 5:16

Obviouisly left before the end. Butler drag flick high left to make it 5:4. Important score as it gave Glens a bonus point for losing by less than 2 goals.

Anonymous said...

shocking shame badly broken toe and out for 6 weeks apparently

Anonymous said...

Oh no! The spelling freaks are about!

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=spelling%20natzi

Nobody cares if people dont spell correctly on anonymous comments. BTW, you forgot your full stop [.] on your first post.

yawn.

Anonymous said...

Was at the Pembroke vs Glenanne game and aside from the excitement of game, was a little disappointed by the entertainment. No music being played after goals are scored or at any of the breaks in play, and only some of the goal scorers were announced. Felt just like watching a league game! Congrats to the two teams on an exciting match though!

Anonymous said...

Would totally agree with 9.49 comment that Pembroke did not have any Razzamataz for the IHL game last Sunday.
No prematch junior/vets game, no music, no hype, no atmosphere.

Lone piper in Quins, Marching Band in Glens, Vets in Rovers and Garvey lauded for their hospitality and entertainment. On a bitterly cold day the relatively small crowd deserved more.

Anonymous said...

I must say that from my observation to date the attendances at IHL games are very disappointing. Nothing like I would have anticipated at the start of the season. In fact there are much bigger crowds attending ISC games.

Anonymous said...

Pembroke aren't wat they used to be.. Leinster hockey is going downhill

Anonymous said...

oh it is,if leinster hockeys going downhill ulster and munster must be at the bottom of the hill waiting for them then

Anonymous said...

Ulster league is still the strongest out of the three!!!

Anonymous said...

Yeah, Ulster is probably the most competitive of the three in the country, maybe not the best though

Four strata exist in Leinster with Pem, Glens and TRR in one, Corinthians Fingal and Monkstown next, Railway and YM in limbo and two also rans.

Some shokc results between the groups but usually easy to predict what way games will go.

Anonymous said...

"Leinster hockey going down hill",

besides Leinster being holders of Leinster Regiment Cup can anyone name any club other than a Leinster club who has won an IHA competition recently or represented Ireland in Europe or won anything in Europe.well can you!!!.
See you in Cork next w/e.

Anonymous said...

there was a lunch before hand in Pembroke in aid of the IHL and their ladies seconds had a game before hand too so they couldn't have a junior or vets game...

Anonymous said...

Barney also made an appearance for the kids in Pembroke on Sunday morning followed by a live band after the men's game was over. Maybe people should hang around after the games.....

Anonymous said...

Harlequins won ISC in 2006 & European Trophy in 2007. Is that recent enough for you!

Anonymous said...

Big error re Cork Harlequins recent victories.

I was responding to "Anon" re Ulster League standard and was a bit annoyed.Munster and Leinster hockey seems to be stronger now,but of course all could change over next few seasons.