Saturday, February 14, 2009

Men's Division One: Week 14 results

Glenanne 3 (Stephen Butler 2, Joe Brennan) Pembroke 3 (Alan Sothern 2, Alan Giles)
An absolute cracker in Glenanne Park, the Glens produced a famous comeback to add to the incredible recent history between these two clubs.

Pembroke went 3-0 up inside ten minutes, Alan Sothern bagging a short corner in the first minute and getting his second from another drag-flick. Skipper Alan Giles got the third and the Sandymount side looked to be cruising clear at the top of division one.

They dominated the first period, however, Glenanne changed their tactics to play a much higher press and got a foothold in the game when Joe Brennan slid in to deflect home a corner with ten minutes to go to the break.

Stephen Butler reduced the deficit in the second half with a drag-flick of his own as they game flowed from end to end while Alan Browne saw yellow before Justin Sherriff followed him into the sin-bin.

Butler's personal match-up with David Harte was a big feature of the game with the goalkeeper producing some excellent saves. The midfielder though had the last laugh with the leveller from another corner in a half that Glenanne enjoyed the best of.

Fingal 4 (Dave Bane, Adrian Sweeney, Keith Crawford, Glen Shekleton) Kilkenny 2 (Gary Sharman, Tom Manning)
Fingal kept pace with Monkstown and Corinthian in the IHL race with a vital win over Kilkenny despite trailing until 14 minutes from time. They opened up strongly, Dave Bane dragging in a corner in the seventh minute and creating numerous other chances.

However, the Cats sporadic attacks saw them hit the front with Gary Sharman banging in a reverse and Tom Manning get the go-ahead goal from an improvised corner after the first phase broke down.

And try as Fingal might, they were held at bay until Adrian Sweeney got a crucial goal inside the last quarter. Keith Crawford's rising reverse saw the greens hit the front before Glen Shekleton got a late stroke.

Railway Union 1 (Eoin MacArthur) Monkstown 3 (Alec Barrett, Brian Groves, Gareth Watkins)
Like Fingal, Monkstown keep their IHL hopes intact but were made to work at Park Avenue, coming from a goal down while Railway came away with nothing to show for a good performance.

Eoin MacArthur took one of a series of chances in the first half for the lead but Alec Barrett made it 1-1 by the break from a corner second phase. Davd Holmes and Paul O'Brien spurned decent chances with David Fitzgerald keeping the Town on terms.

And they took advantage in the second period. Brian Groves volleyed home after a cross-cum-shot broke his way and Gareth Watkins roofed a corner for 3-1. O'Brien had a further one-on-one chance but could not pull one back.

* For 50 more pictures of the Glenanne and Pembroke game from Adrian Boehm and Emer Keogh, click here

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

hav to say the glens n Pembroke match was amazin to watch
first half glens had heads down
n Pembroke took full use of this
n got their 3 goals
but then the glens lads started to get into the game and came back to leave it 3-3 lovely to watch

Anonymous said...

Thought Pembroke stopped playing when they went 3 up, they were by far the better side and then just stopped moving and apssing and sat back and invited the inevitable onslaught from Glens.

Pembroke would have taken a draw before the game, still top.

Anonymous said...

Not entirely sure Pembroke would be happy to take a draw before the game - a win would mean league in their own hands with four wins from four giving them the title.

This reuslt brings rovers back into it. If they now win their last six then they retain the title.

Anonymous said...

Pembroke V Rovers and Rovers V Glens still to come, all 3 are still in it...

IHl battle will go down to the wire too, good to see.

Anonymous said...

Pembroke already drawn twice with rovers, and played glens twice - easier run in.

Anonymous said...

Have two games in hand and they play glens at the end of the season, so top three are still in to win it

Anonymous said...

Stephen - which Men's Division 1 table is correct yours or the one on the Leinster website. It has different points or matches for Monkstown, Fingal and UCD? It has Monkstown as 22 points, Fingal as 14 matches and 21 points and UCD as 13 matches and 2 points.

Stephen Findlater said...

Um, to be honest I'm not sure. The Monkstown one was wrong for me and has been amended.

The Leinster site has UCD and Fingal down for a 0-0 draw on Saturday. I got no notification of this match going ahead from either the Branch or the clubs at the weekend so no idea yet if it has been played or not. Will send out a few texts.

Stephen Findlater said...

Fingal and UCD yet to play. The game was postponed due to U-21 interpros and Fingal subsequently rearranged a back match against kilkenny. Not sure why it has been entered as a draw on the website.

Anonymous said...

Great match,fair result,A privilege to see two great Irish players ,Butler and Harte having a shoot out,great saves and great goals.