* Full round-up tomorrow of IHL and men's division two. For now, take a look at http://www.irishhockeyleague.ie/index.asp for match reports.
An incredible day of IHL action saw three Leinster side's progress from the men's competition as Three Rock Rovers, Glenanne and, most remarkably, Pembroke sealed bonus point wins.
Pembroke needed to win by three against Annadale to qualify for the semi-finals and did so in style by leading the scoring 5-1 on the day. Glenanne got the best of Ulster champions Cookstown 5-2 while Rovers got a dream start against Cork C of I. Three up inside 11 minutes, they were scarcely troubled to run out 5-2 winners.
Banbridge are the other side to advance as they smashed Monkstown 6-1.
On the women's side, a similar situation was denied by Irish skipper Eimear Cregan's late show. She scored a stunner 30 seconds from time against Armagh in a 4-1 win to seal a bonus point to progress ahead of UCD. They beat Pembroke 2-1 but did not gain the full four points which would have secured a last four place.
Hermes knocked out Ballymoney with a 2-2 draw.
Loreto and Pegasus were the sides to make it through to the semi-finals from the other groups as the Beaufort side held Railway Union to a 2-2 draw. Pegs' beat already eliminated Cork C of I 3-1 to take second place in the group.
In the men's division two, Bray have confirmed their place in the promotion/relegation playoff after they nicked the last of seven goals against Trinity, winning 4-3. Skerries fell 7-3 to Clontarf while Avoca's 4-0 win over Suttonians was in vain. Navan picked up a third win of the season, beating Naas 3-2.
*Pictures from Adrian Boehm, Deryck Vincent and Emer Keogh will appear tomorrow.
Interpro heroics mask structural deficiencies
7 years ago
25 comments:
The match reports on the website are so poor. Not having a go at those who write but the system by which they are written. If the IHA want to get this competition publicised properly, they can't have poorly worded and - for the most part - bias reports on the competitions official website.
Reading throught the reports there only the Harlequins one's (obviously written by Alan Lewis), the Three Rock match (obviously written by you Findo) and the Glenanne one seem to be even close to comprehensive and well put together.
what would have happened if UCD had made it into the IHL semi-final and had ended up 5th in the league? because isn't the IHL semi-final weekend the same as the IHL play-off tournament weekend?
A good days hockey at Pembroke. Why were there no ball girls at the ladies match? Thought the home team was supposed to provide them. The pitch wasn't watered at half time either.
is it a blessing or a shame that both pembroke and glenanne are in the same leagues - leinster and AIL? obviously the best 2 teams in teh country.
if glens n pembroke are the best in both leinster and AIL then how is it 3rock drew wit both of the in div 1 league!!!!!
"obviously the best 2 teams in teh country."
I think TRR would have something to say about that, current champions and in the semi's too...
2 years in a row with 3 Leinster teams in the semi's, power in Leinster at the moment...
Banbridge will be a hard team to beat, they deserve their place in the semis and look to be the best team up North! Pembroke were class yesterday! 4 best sides in Ireland are thru to the semis, good to see!
'Best team up North'?? - have u seen the results? where have the medals have gone to? yes their West of the Bann but there not at Banbridge.
Cookstown are a lot better than Banbridge. "power in Leinster at the moment..." this is because of foreign players coming to play for the dublin sides. Ulster won the Inter-pros.
FINALS WEEKEND THREE ROCK ROVERS
Saturday 2nd May
10:30 (w) LORETO vs CORK HARLEQUINS
12:30 (w) HERMES vs PEGASUS
15:00 (m) GLENANNE vs BANBRIDGE
17:00 (m) THREE ROCK ROVERS vs PEMBROKE WANDERERS
Sunday 3rd May
13:30 Womens Final
16.00 Mens Final
Wheres the mighty red army gone?????
Dont think there are any foreign players with the Glens, and cant think of any with TRRs 1st
Leinster obviously the best
Glenannes team is all home grown. A incredible team where all players have came through the youth section. All power is in Leinster.
To the previous two posters - Brendan Parsons and Steven Doran... and Lucas Piccioli...
Agree though that results have gone in favour of Leinster clubs and the top three seem to be able to produce on the big occasion
Lucas Piccioli ? hes foreign.. lets get it right before we make stupid comments..
red army will be at the ISC final.
parsons is railway...dorans suttonions,,no glens homegrown there!!!
Stephen, can you confirm fixtures for the finals weekend are as detailed in Anonymous 7.09.
You can see the official fixture list here:
http://www.irishhockeyleague.ie/
I think the issue that was originally raised was regarding the matter of "foreign players". I think Doran and Parsons would have something to say about being regarding as not Irish!
Having played against the top teams in the men's IHL this season there is no doubt that the 3 Leinster sides are currently the top 3 teams in the country. The clubs in Ulster & Munster have a good bit of catching up to do.
Ulster player..
i have to agree with the leinster league being on top at the moment.. i dont like it but the stats are there... the irish cups have all gone there the last few years. tho i cant see how bann can be seen as the top team in ulster?? they have done well to get to the IHL semis, but thats all they have done this year..and i dont think they have it to beat glens or pembroke. think Cookstown or maybe dale would have been better in the semis than bann, tho i think they had a harder group.
good luck to cookstown in ISC too
Re April 6, 2009 4:18 PM
thats certainly unfair on Banbridge!
Yes Annadale have been progressive in adopting the new rules and played well, unfortuately they met a very good pembroke side.
Cookstown certianly havn't been. 5 games 3 draws 2 defeats- least amount of goals scored in both groups!
Yes Banbridge will go in as underdogs but the strongest fours teams playing the new rules are in the semi's
also good luck to cookstown in the final.
played dale town and ban this year and think ban are definitely the worst of the three. will be an all leinster final - completely shocked if glens have any trouble.
Banbridge are getting a very rough ride here, fair play to them, they have along with TRR the best win ratio in IHL with 4 wins and along with TRR and Glens there goal diff is exceptional. They are a well respected club within Ireland and anyone who under estimates them in these playoffs could be very foolish. From the games ive seen of them they have a great defence and midfield and 4 or 5 very good forwards. Plus all the leinster and munster lads i talk to think the Banbridge lads are a gd bunch of fellas! Good luck to them!
ulster player ... again
i disagree that im being unfair to bann... i do think it is an achievment that they are in IHL semis, and thankfully we got 1 ulster side in there. but i do think the pembroke/glens etc group was tougher. regarding cookstown, there is no doubt that they have not produced in the IHL , but look at their results outside of the IHL rules.. undefeated , winning both ulster cups and final of ISC... they just havent adapted well to the IHL rules. and when i see people describing bann as a top 4 side in ireland and the top team in ulster.. i wonder how can ppl see this?? im my opinion.. and its only mine.. they had a weaker IHL group and have done nothing in ulster this year. which would indicate to me that they are not the top team in ulster. its hard to say this but i cant see them turning the glens over in the semis.
why do posters from ulster hate seeing other clubs from the province do well??
cookstown... you have done well in ulster the past 2 seasons, have a chance in the ISC
well done
dale came close to making the semis of the IHL, bad luck well done when no one fancied you.
Ban, well done. patchy league form but always have the ability to win games with the talent they have on show. personally as a ulster player. from a side that have done very poorly this year i want to see ulster sides do well, sure i wish it was us but you can't win them all!
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