The club hockey season looks set for a fascinating denouement as the Irish Hockey League’s (IHL) showpiece weekend gets underway tomorrow.On the men’s side, Pembroke very much dominate the thoughts of the players involved with Banbridge’s Scott McCandless, Three Rock Rovers’ Mitch Darling and Glenanne’s Graham Shaw all singing their praises in the wake of their trio of major trophies in the past month.
For Pembroke captain Alan Giles, though, the main enemy may be from within. “You can get very complacent, especially if you’re consistently doing well,” he said. “You can sometimes forget that teams can turn you over; you can have bad spells but hopefully we’ll use it as a positive.”
They go into their tie with Three Rock at full strength with Giles himself recovering well from a slight tweak dating back to just before the Monkstown game.
Rovers will be without club player-of-the-year nominee Neil Lyons with a broken bone in his foot as well as Palestine-based Phelie Maguire and despite being current club champions go into the game as heavy underdogs.
However, they have enjoyed slightly the better of possession of the two 1-1 draws played this season and have more high quality pitch-time in the bank with the au
to-pass ruling to make this an intriguing battle.
On the other side of the draw, Glenanne and Banbridge can be forgiven for looking at their tie as a shot to nothing for EHL qualification, given Pembroke’s form, with Glenanne star Graham Shaw admitting it adds an extra bit of spice to his side’s clash with Ulster’s sole representatives, but adds that they won’t be satisfied with anything but finishing top of the pile.
“We’re not looking ahead to the final,” he insisted. “We’re going out to win (against Bann) and if that gives us the European place then that’s fantastic, (but) we’re still confident enough that we’re going to win the whole thing. We’re not in it to finish in second place.”
They welcome back Joe Brennan, Paul Fitzpatrick – who played a full part in Monday’s 3-3 friendly draw with Monkstown – and Steven Doran.
They go into their tie with Three Rock at full strength with Giles himself recovering well from a slight tweak dating back to just before the Monkstown game.
Rovers will be without club player-of-the-year nominee Neil Lyons with a broken bone in his foot as well as Palestine-based Phelie Maguire and despite being current club champions go into the game as heavy underdogs.
However, they have enjoyed slightly the better of possession of the two 1-1 draws played this season and have more high quality pitch-time in the bank with the au
to-pass ruling to make this an intriguing battle.On the other side of the draw, Glenanne and Banbridge can be forgiven for looking at their tie as a shot to nothing for EHL qualification, given Pembroke’s form, with Glenanne star Graham Shaw admitting it adds an extra bit of spice to his side’s clash with Ulster’s sole representatives, but adds that they won’t be satisfied with anything but finishing top of the pile.
“We’re not looking ahead to the final,” he insisted. “We’re going out to win (against Bann) and if that gives us the European place then that’s fantastic, (but) we’re still confident enough that we’re going to win the whole thing. We’re not in it to finish in second place.”
They welcome back Joe Brennan, Paul Fitzpatrick – who played a full part in Monday’s 3-3 friendly draw with Monkstown – and Steven Doran.
Bann, me
anwhile, are waiting on the availability of talisman Eugene Magee who broke a bone in his thumb a couple of weeks ago.
The event will be televised in its entirity by Setanta and will be broadcast from Monday. Keep an eye on the listings by clicking here. There is also promises to be a lively programme of events in the clubhouse along and Ed Sports end of season sale.
Meanwhile, Corinthian will take on Lisnagarvey and Bandon for the right to play in next season’s IHL should they make it into the top two of their three team pool.
Clontarf and Dublin Uni are also in action, the final match on the front pitch on Saturday night at 7.30pm in the Neville Davin Cup final.
IHL squads:
Banbridge: Gareth Lennox (GK & C); Stephen Forbes; Scott Forbes; Geoff McCabe; Dermy Reay; Matthew Smyth; Bruce McCandless; Johnny Brown; Simon Magowan; Eugene Magee; Colin Dowds; Philip Brown; Ross McCandless; Scott McCandless; Patrick Scott; Dane Ward; Drew Carlisle; Stephen Dowds; Ryan ONeill (GK)
Glenanne: Steve Doran (GK); Alan Browne; Mark Lambe; Graham Shaw; David Shaw; Brendan Parsons; Johnn Goulding; Eddie OMalley; Clinton Murphy (VC); Joe Brennan; Paul Fitzpatrick; Jonathan Kane; Stephen Butler; Richie Shaw; Enda Tucker; Shane ODonoghue; Gary Shaw; David Keogh.
Pembroke Wanderers: Simon Thornton (GK); Alan Giles; Craig Fulton; Ronan Gormley; Conor Harte; Maurice Elliott; Gordon Elliott; Colin Kelly; Paddy Conlon; Stuart Loughrey; Ken Treacy; Scott Furlong; Michael OConnor; Justin Sherriff; Alan Sothern; Scott Lowrie; David Harte (GK); Tim Lewis
Three Rock Rovers: Charlie Henderson (GK); David Storey; Gavin Bourke; Alastair Haughton; Kyle Good; Michael Maguire; Lucas Piccioli; Mitch Darling; Peter McConnell; Neal Megarity; Garry Ringwood; Alan Bothwell ﾩ; Colin Huet; Patrick Shanahan; Stephen Macken; Peter Blakeney; Andy McConnell; Wendel Armstrong (GK)
IHL Schedule (all at Grange Road):
Saturday: 3pm Glenanne v Banbridge; 5pm Three Rock Rovers v Pembroke Wanderers
Sunday: Men's Final
Wildcard Schedule (all back pitch at Grange Road, unless stated)
Saturday: 12pm Lisnagarvey vs Corinthian
anwhile, are waiting on the availability of talisman Eugene Magee who broke a bone in his thumb a couple of weeks ago.The event will be televised in its entirity by Setanta and will be broadcast from Monday. Keep an eye on the listings by clicking here. There is also promises to be a lively programme of events in the clubhouse along and Ed Sports end of season sale.
Meanwhile, Corinthian will take on Lisnagarvey and Bandon for the right to play in next season’s IHL should they make it into the top two of their three team pool.
Clontarf and Dublin Uni are also in action, the final match on the front pitch on Saturday night at 7.30pm in the Neville Davin Cup final.
IHL squads:
Banbridge: Gareth Lennox (GK & C); Stephen Forbes; Scott Forbes; Geoff McCabe; Dermy Reay; Matthew Smyth; Bruce McCandless; Johnny Brown; Simon Magowan; Eugene Magee; Colin Dowds; Philip Brown; Ross McCandless; Scott McCandless; Patrick Scott; Dane Ward; Drew Carlisle; Stephen Dowds; Ryan ONeill (GK)
Glenanne: Steve Doran (GK); Alan Browne; Mark Lambe; Graham Shaw; David Shaw; Brendan Parsons; Johnn Goulding; Eddie OMalley; Clinton Murphy (VC); Joe Brennan; Paul Fitzpatrick; Jonathan Kane; Stephen Butler; Richie Shaw; Enda Tucker; Shane ODonoghue; Gary Shaw; David Keogh.
Pembroke Wanderers: Simon Thornton (GK); Alan Giles; Craig Fulton; Ronan Gormley; Conor Harte; Maurice Elliott; Gordon Elliott; Colin Kelly; Paddy Conlon; Stuart Loughrey; Ken Treacy; Scott Furlong; Michael OConnor; Justin Sherriff; Alan Sothern; Scott Lowrie; David Harte (GK); Tim Lewis
Three Rock Rovers: Charlie Henderson (GK); David Storey; Gavin Bourke; Alastair Haughton; Kyle Good; Michael Maguire; Lucas Piccioli; Mitch Darling; Peter McConnell; Neal Megarity; Garry Ringwood; Alan Bothwell ﾩ; Colin Huet; Patrick Shanahan; Stephen Macken; Peter Blakeney; Andy McConnell; Wendel Armstrong (GK)
IHL Schedule (all at Grange Road):
Saturday: 3pm Glenanne v Banbridge; 5pm Three Rock Rovers v Pembroke Wanderers
Sunday: Men's Final
Wildcard Schedule (all back pitch at Grange Road, unless stated)
Saturday: 12pm Lisnagarvey vs Corinthian
Sunday: 1:30pm Bandon vs Lisnagarvey
Monday (front Pitch): 10am Corinthian vs Bandon
14 comments:
Any news on how much it will be to get into Rovers to view the hockey this weekend?
unlike the write up by johnny watterson for the second week in succession before the big weekends,its great to see some info on the hockey and not the conflicts supposedly in the game.This promises to be a fantastic weekend of action.I've heard Rovers are putting up a stand for it too,is this true?let's hope if they do,the supporters turn up in their masses to make it worthwhile and fill the seats unlike the ISC finals.
There was a stand being erected earlier in the week so assume that will be in place for the weekend.
The Corinthians dispute has been put to bed or buried by the leinster branch management committee. The management committee over-ruled the fixtures committee without providing any reasoning for their ruling. Fixtures committee were not allowed any repost.
There will be no more on this so the matches will go ahead and it is the end of the saga.
yeah, for what purpose did it get mentioned today? this story was done with weeks ago - limited space in a national paper, oh lets visit a story from ages ago with little relevance to what is actually happening, ridiculous stuff.
An update on the grounds:
"The IHA are putting in a stand for the weekend in Three Rock to help add to the weekend for spectators, there is also plenty of music, raffles, foam hands, thundersticks to add to the weekend…"
I've been assured there will also be a barbeque and an outdoor bar, weather permitting.
cool fair play to them if this is true and lets hope they make sure weather is good too!
crouching tiger hidden dwyer!!
Out of curiousity, in that Mitch Darlilng interview, "pull up our shorts"...why were they down!
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