Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Paddy' Day triumph for Pembroke

Mills Cup final
Pembroke 4 (Alan Sothern 2, Gordon Elliott, Patrick Good) Fingal 1 (Eamon Bane)

Pembroke picked off the one title to elude them in 2008/09 as they showed far too much know-how for underdogs Fingal at Grange Road yesterday, steaming clear in the second half.

Alan Sothern was tormentor-in-chief, as he has been for most defences this term, with two efforts before Gordon Elliott’s neat tip-in and Patrick Good’s well-struck shot added the garnish late on.

For the ALSAA club, there was no repeat of their only other final appearance when they failed to show up in 2006, falling in abject fashion to Glenanne.

This time round, they played a smart first half, managing to draw level through Eamon Bane, but once Pembroke clicked into gear, the result was inevitable.

It started in ominous fashion, though, as a penalty corner decision was brilliantly converted by Sothern, roofing a drag-flick, awarded after Chris Neville was adjudged not to have retreated five metres at an auto-pass.

However, Sothern had no qualms from the ensuing penalty corner, whizzing the ball past Nigel Grothier’s ears.

To their credit, Fingal stuck rigidly to a game plan of deep defence with four men breaking at speed, using Gary Sharman, Adrian Sweeney and the excellent Tom Manning’s pace to chase balls down the channels.

They soaked up a lot of pressure, Sothern shooting over and wide while Ben Chillingworth deflected Conor Harte’s flick wide.

But from the Fingallians’ first penalty corner, David Bane’s miscued drag-flick was dinked over David Harte by Eamon Bane to level the tie.

Pembroke, though, raised the tempo in the second half and retook the lead in bizarre fashion, Brian Gray, diving full length to block a Sothern cross, spectacularly deflected the ball into the roof of his own net

It was a deflating blow so soon after the interval and, despite Derek O’Gorman’s midfield machinations, Pembroke’s horde of international stars took hold.

The speed of interchange left Fingal chasing shadows. Elliott missed an open goal when Alan Giles and Andy McConnell combined while Grothier saved brilliantly down low from Sothern.

But Elliott made amends in the 51st minute, guiding Justin Sherriff’s shot goalward for 3-1 before Good completed the scoring with eight minutes to go.

Earlier, Monkstown claimed the spoils over Corinthian in an outstanding U-16 Benny Atkinson Cup final on penalty strokes after extra-time finished 4-4. Normal time ended 3-3 in a see-saw battle in what was a truly great advert for the sport.

Elsewhere, John Jermyn struck four times as Cork C of I hammered Catholic Institute 7-3 to take the Munster Senior Cup.

Pembroke: David Harte, Alan Giles, Craig Fulton, Ronan Gormley, Conor Harte, Maurice Elliott, Paddy Conlon, Andrew McConnell, Michael O’Connor, Justin Sherriff, Adam Pritchard, Alan Sothern
Subs: Gordon Elliott, Ken Treacy, Patrick Good, Michael O’Connor

Fingal: Nigel Grothier, Eamon Bane, Gary Sharman, Lloyd Pearson, Andy Marshall, Derek O’Gorman, Ben Chillingworth, Stephen Thompson, Tom Manning, Chris Neville
Subs: Brian Gray, Paddy Gahan, Adrian Sweeney

* Photos from Adrian Boehm of the Mills Cup final can be seen here

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fantastic u16 match i thought the lads in the middle played superb and cancelled eachother out

Anonymous said...

hrd luck lads

A BOY DE GRAY

Anonymous said...

Congratulations to the Monkstown under 16's. A really great match and result!

Anonymous said...

credit to both U 16 teams. a game to remember.lewis was immense in the middle

Anonymous said...

Sorry Fingal.

AP

Anonymous said...

Great U16 game. Hard for anyone to lose. Thought David Cole was immense and a great captain. Johnny Lewis and Johnny Byrnes did well too. Nerves of steel for the strokes

Anonymous said...

Is there photos of the U16s?

Anonymous said...

i thought jack perdue was very solid at right back

Anonymous said...

big t-Obin with the blue magic was quality in support

Anonymous said...

The future for Andrews and Wesley is good hockey wise as the level of hockey played at that final was superb.

Monkstown and CHC should also be happy as they have some great players coming through the junior ranks..

Excellent final for all watching- very good crowd present..

Well done to both sides..

Anonymous said...

where were the rest of fingal's squad??

Stephen Findlater said...

11.40am - pics for U-16 final can be seen here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/irishhockeyphotographers/sets/72157623522308315/

Anonymous said...

Great party in Pembroke afterwards. BBQ, live music and players from all over Leinster - Fingal, Old Alex, Railway cricket and hockey, Trinity ladies, UCD ladies! Well done to them for putting it on!