Fingal 2 (Adrian Sweeney, Mick McGuinness) YMCA 1 (Richie Miles) Not quite the scoreline that Mick McGuinness predicted but the right result for him and his club as they maintain their excellent start to the season and stay top of division one. Once again, they did it the hard way. Richie Miles opened the scoring with a nice touch to a left-wing cross.
Adrian Sweeney levelled from Eamon Bane's free-hit - which YM contested vehemently - rounding Iain Walker before scoring five off half-time and McGuinness got the crucial goal in the second period - once again from Bane's long pass.
Three Rock Rovers 2 (Peter Blakeney 2) Corinthian 1 (Davy Carson)
Rovers avoided a potential banana-skin as the rain teemed down from the Dublin Mountains, threatening to scupper their match with Corinthian.
Rovers – already missing Phelie Maguire, Stephen Macken, Neil Lyons and David Storey – soon added the name of Alan Bothwell to their injury list, picking up a facial injury. They were nowhere near their best on the day, forced to grind out a 2-1 victory against an improving side from across the Marlay Park.Peter Blakeney netted a drag-flick before Davy Carson tied the game up at half-time. Blakeney, though, was on hand to grab the winner, getting on the end of Spanish-import Veran Pijeon’s through ball before the heavens fully opened and the water-based pitch came close to flooding.
Indeed, the closing 20 minutes proved a stalemate as the volume of water slowed the game to a standstill.
Glenanne 1 (Stephen Butler) UCD 0
Glenanne scraped past UCD by one goal as the students once again showed their robust style under Coen van Putten. The Glens enjoyed the majority of possession with Stephen Butler having a drag-flick saved off the line by Ben Grogan and hit the post but, in the end, the only goal of the game came in the first five minutes from a penalty corner.
For UCD, Robbie McFarlane, Rob Lynch and Ronan Motyer all picked up injuries in the first half which affected their Leinster senior cup match today. They have a week off, though, to recover as Railway tarvel to play in an indoor competition next weekend.
Railway Union 1 (Peter English) Pembroke Wanderers 4 (Alan Sothern 3, Gordon Elliott)
Alan Sothern netted a hat-trick to add to his impressive goal tally for the season in a scoreline Mick McGuinness got absolutely spot on. Pembroke keep pace with the front two, tied for third place with Glenanne, though with a game in hand.
Railway, meanwhile, stay in seventh place on four points getting their goal thanks to Wesley schoolboy Peter English while Nigel Henderson came out of retirement for the game.
Kilkenny 0 Monkstown 4 (Ian Allen, Nick Dee, Filip Jaros, Gareth Watkins)
Monkstown swap places with Corinthian once again with a comprehensive scoreline against Kilkenny with first goals of the season for Filip Jaros and Nick Dee. They move up into fifth place and the win creates a four-point gap between the top six and the bottom four similar to the one that appeared last season.
Monkstown swap places with Corinthian once again with a comprehensive scoreline against Kilkenny with first goals of the season for Filip Jaros and Nick Dee. They move up into fifth place and the win creates a four-point gap between the top six and the bottom four similar to the one that appeared last season. This season, though, the league appears much more competitive with the large scorelines that characterised the matches between top and bottom a lot rarer.
* Fingal vs YMCA pictures courtesy of Adrian Boehm, Railway vs Pembroke pictures courtesy of Rob O'Connor, http://www.rocshot.com/
lots of people are saying that UCD are a much improved side this year previous years,how come it is then that they are still without a single point and seem incapapble of scoring goals?
ReplyDeletewell, going from losing games by massive scores to competing is a big step...
ReplyDeleteobviously not one of the better sides in the league but sides at bottom not getting tonked week in week out is a good thing
ucd lost today too clontarf in mills cup..
ReplyDeletewhat is going on in the first Pembroke v Railway picture. Looks like a bit of a schmozzle to me!
ReplyDeletePeople expect too much from UCD at the moment. Don't forget it is a very young and unexpierenced team, just 6 six weeks in training with this squad.
ReplyDeleteWith too many matches in the past few weeks, injuries and a bit of bad luck, we have a lot of work to do. Points will come, don't worry mr. Anonymous.
Coen
Fair play for protecting your players Mr. van Putten, you seem to be nurturing a good hard working, honest attitude amongst the young talent you have at UCD. You definitely have the club moving in the right direction and it's only a matter of time before results start to come.
ReplyDeleteWatched the Fingal v YMCA game, there was very little between the teams, YM deserved a draw. With all players fit they are a good mid table side and wo'nt be near the bottom much longer. Fingal are a tough side but are over achieving at the moment.
ReplyDeletei agree ym deserved at least a point from the game and with everyone fit they are a different outfit
ReplyDeleteyes UCD arnt getting trashed anymore but that doesnt change the fact that they are losing every match.as to their coach saying they are inexperienced he has several players who have played in numerous inter provincial teams and many of the older players have played senior hockey for a number of years so saying that his team is inexperienced is just an excuse to cover for their poor performances so far this year.
ReplyDeleteye i heard fingal were lucky to get the win! mind you they are masters at winning games from being a goal or two down
ReplyDeletemaybe a "deserved" table should be compiled on the points teams "should" have got and where with fully fit players teams "Should" be??
ReplyDeletebecause that obviously is what interests people...
O'Keefe was class on Saturday, some of the saves he pulled off were amazing...although some of Glenanne's finishing was terrible.
ReplyDeleteUCD are the youngest team in the league....FACT. The average age of the 1st team squad is 20 years old.....FACT. How can they possibly have as much experience at this level as the other teams in the league?
ReplyDeleteO'Keefe is playing outstandingly well at the moment. Should he be getting a look in with the Irish squad?
ReplyDeleteo'keeffe wont get a sniff of the irish setup as you have dave harte and iain walker there,both 20/21.also next keepers in line are the likes of ruddle, lennox, fitzy has come in there too.
ReplyDeletei feel that the best keeper in the country is charlie henderson.watched both games of rovers on the live streaming,he was incredible, and he seems to do a lot for rovers organisation in defence. if he came out of international retirement, he'd be back in at no.1
are rovers and fingal playing against each other next weekend? top of the table clash!
ReplyDeletegood to see another club competing with the top 3.
the league could be close to being decided by this side of christmas too.looked at upcoming fixtures, rovers have fingal, the town, da glens and pembroke. if they all go rovers way,i dont see a chance of them being stopped for the title again.
heard ym were unlucky over the weekend. they seem to be coming together as a team more and more now. but if iain walker were to leave, i cant see any future for them trying to compete.
Tom Not So
whoever made that comment about UCD being the "youngest team FACT" etc, cheers but we're not looking for excuses. Fact is we're on 0 points and need to be better to start getting results. We know how much work we have to do and how much we have to improve. despite what's been written we're not in the business of kidding ourselves.
ReplyDeleteEnd of story.
Ben.
you must be having a laugh,league finished this side of xmas?!rovers form has been poor to date other than their european exploits,the league is a long way from over!
ReplyDeleteI would have serious doubts that rovers will beat fingal, the town, da glens and pembroke. Id say they are bound to drop to one off the above somewhere
ReplyDeleteit doesn't matter who should have won the game or how teams would play if they had their full squad available...all that matters is who gets the three points at the end of the match
ReplyDeleteI also feel O'Keefe will never get a look in in the international scene, very good shot stopper but is very quick to rush and this could lead to alot of mistakes at international! Very good for UCD, but i think that is as far as it will go,
ReplyDeleteA. Nonymous
Wow. It's amazing how a 19 year old(?) can be dubbed to "never get a look in in the international scene". Although I would disagree with the above comment, I think it says more about the international setup in recent years. It tends to be that if you haven't made your debut at 20 you won't. Who was the oldest debutant in recent years?
ReplyDeletedon't worry o'keefe your time may come
ReplyDeleteA word out to Mick McG
ReplyDeleteWhat great prediction's 5 correct results and one correct scoreline and the others quite close!!
Fingal vs YMCA 3-1 Actual 2 - 1
Kilk vs Monkstown 1-2 Actual 0- 4
Corinthian vs TRR 2-4 Actual 1-2
Railway vs PW 1-4 Actual 1-4
Glennane vs UCD 2-0 Actual 1-0
Mick you are on to soemthing what a re the predictions for this week?
stephen a reguler weeekly prediction maybe???
tom
O'Keefe is one of the top keepers in the development system, why have him in that if he has no chance of having an international future?
ReplyDeletefor show rob,for show
ReplyDeletenick dee didn't score for monkstown it was an OG
ReplyDeleteam i right in saying that there is no such thing as an own goal in hockey, the goal is awarded to the last attacking player to touch the ball
ReplyDeleteThis was not just Nick Dee's first goal of the season but first ever in the top division. How can you try to take it away from him? Obviously just a jealous Monkstown forward or midfield player.
ReplyDelete