IHA Awards Night

Ulster's Claire McMahon and Patrick Brown, last night took the highest individual awards in Irish Hockey for their performance and contribution at an impressive ESB Irish Hockey Awards ceremony hosted by legendary broadcaster Micheal O Muircheartaigh.

Ex-International and Pegasus marksman, Claire McMahon, was declared the ESB Women's Player of the Year for her consistently strong club performance throughout the season, while Brown, the recently retired Irish captain, claimed the Men’s Player of the Year Award for the first time.

Ulster player and new cap, Stephanie Quinn, was named the ESB U18 player of the year while teenage sensation Stuart Loughrey won the U18’s male category for his performancea in both the Irish Senior Cup and recent club championships.

Pembroke Wanderers was awarded Club of the Year title for the second consecutive year with its senior teams competing in Europe .

Connacht’s Richie Malone was awarded Coach of the Year. He coached Connacht’s U16 team to win the Interprovincials for the first time and also coached Galway to the Pool stages of the ESB Club Championships and AIL play offs.

Tom Goode took the title of Umpire of the Year.

Monkstown Hockey Club’s longstanding coach, Trevor Watkins, was awarded Development coach of the year award, while Botanic was declared Emerging club of the year. Limerick Hockey Club was declared Youth Club of the Year.

Munster & Bandon’s Mary Walsh was awarded Volunteer of the Year while long-serving IHA chairman, John Dennis of Munster he received the President's Award for his outstanding services to Irish hockey.

The event, held at the Ballsbridge Court Hotel, was well attended, excellently presented and raucously supported for which Katie Roche deserves special praise.

Olympic schedule announced

The Olympic Games Committee and the International Hockey Federation (FIH) released the match schedule for the hockey tournament of the 2008 Olympic Games today.

The first day of competition will be Sunday 10 August 2008 when the 12 women’s participating teams will enter the pitch in Beijing, China. Japan and New Zealand have the honour to open the tournament while the men’s tournament will start on Monday 11 August 2008. The first men’s match will be the encounter between Germany and China .

The pools for the 2008 Olympic Hockey Tournament are as follows:

Men's Olympic Hockey Tournament:
Pool A: Germany , Spain , Korea , New Zealand , Belgium , China .
Pool B: Australia , Netherlands , Pakistan , Great Britain , South Africa , Canada .

Women’s Olympic Hockey Tournament
Pool A: Netherlands , Australia , China , Spain , Korea , South Africa .
Pool B: Argentina , Germany , Japan , New Zealand , Great Britain , USA .

For the full list of match times, click here

Clare Parkhill retires

Irish defender, Clare Parkhill, 27, today announced her retirement from the international hockey scene after earning a total of 70 senior caps in just a three year period.

Parkhill's decision comes shortly after Ireland's return from the Olympic Qualifying Tournament. Parkhill wore the green jersey for the first time against Korea in 2005 and since then she has been a regular in the line-up, competing in the Europeans and the Olympic Qualifiers.

Coach Gene Muller said of the retirement "She played very well for Ireland recently and was one of our most consistent performers at the Olympic qualifier. She will be especially missed in our set pieces in which she contributed enormously.”

Parkhill retired to pursue her legal career in Manchester, and said of het time in the Irish set-up: “It has been a pleasure and a privilege to have been part of such a successful and professional organisation.

"During my hockey career I have been fortunate to experience the development of Irish hockey and given the level of expertise throughout the IHA and coaching staff I have every confidence that Ireland will continue to achieve at the highest level in the future.”

Men's Club Championships Final: TRR 1 Pembroke 0 (after golden goal)

Three Rock Rovers broke Pembroke Wanderers two year hold on the All-Ireland Club Championships with a ferocious Maarten Sier drag-flick with just 47 seconds of golden goal extra-time remaining.

In a nip and tuck game, with little quarter given, Pembroke probably edged the general play.

Rovers, in turn, had a number of chances but goalkeeper of the tournament David Harte smothered the chances, coming off his line before Mitch Darling could get a clean shot off.

Three Rock coach, Turloch O’Siochain, went into the finals weekend believing his side to be rank underdogs but they stood their ground in the face of a mighty Pembroke tide to claim their first ever President’s Trophy.

In the final, Pembroke – going in search of three in a row – settled the quickest with veteran Gordie Elliott looking the likeliest to unlock his former club’s defence.

He had the most clear-cut chance banging in but Charlie Henderson produced an amazing left-handed save. Indeed, the former Pembroke man was in unbelievable form all afternoon, later denying Alan Sothern’s deflection and Craig Wilson’s shot.

The early stages were played almost exclusively down the Rovers left channel, creating one of the key battles between Michael Maguire and Pembroke’s player–coach Craig Fulton.

Maguire won a victory of sorts in the match-up when Fulton was green carded and then sin-binned for some niggly tackles.

Rovers became more of a force in the second half. Mitch Darling – who scored five in the semi-final – and Andy McConnell were at the heart of everything good they had going forward.

David Harte came off his line twice to smother potential goal threats while in front of him, Ronan Gormley was outstanding - solid in defense and setting a number of attacks in motion with sublime overheads.

Sier, meanwhile, almost turned villain with a yellow with 80 seconds of normal time remaining for petulantly knocking the ball away.

Neither side, though, could get a crucial goal leading to extra-time. Three Rock, again, had most of the forward momentum and were eventually rewarded when Phelie Maguire was bundled over on his path to goal.

Sier held his nerve to convert to give the Rathfarnam side the the top prize in Irish hockey and a coveted EuroHockey League berth.

Women's Championships final: Hermes 1 Loreto 0 (after golden goal)

Aoife Harte’s golden-goal beauty saw Hermes reclaim the All-Ireland Club Championships, winning back the trophy they won two years ago.

It was a sublime effort, set up by 16 year-old Chloe Watkins whose slide-rule path found the onrushing midfielder at the top of the D.

Harte’s initial effort was blocked by Rachel Keegan’s foot but a good advantage from umpire Lyn Morrow allowed her to carry on, picking up the ball and robustly hammering into the bottom corner.

A beautiful goal to end a cagey end-to-end encounter.

But this final may well be remembered in the longer scheme of things as a day where prodigious youth got its head with six schoolgirls making their mark.

The changing of the guard was apparent in Saturday’s semi-final when Hermes deposed last year’s champions, Pegasus – a side complete with five retired internationals in their squad.

Coach Colin Stewart has protested numerous times this season that his side is in transition with former internationals Catriona Carey and Mary Logue retiring while Jenny Burke missed the end of the season due to pregnancy.

Add to that, captain Fiona Connery missed the final as she flew out to her wedding and you would be forgiven for agreeing with Stewart

But, at Belfield on Sunday, his side came of age with the help of a precocious trio of teenagers.

In Chloe Watkins, the Booterstown club has the most exciting talent to grace Irish hockey in recent years. With just a handful of senior club games under her belt, she delivered a first half master-class that left many of Loreto’s more senior talent bewildered.

From her left midfield position, she ghosted past players with ease creating chance after chance for fellow schoolgirls, Nicola Evans and Anna O’Flanagan.

Indeed, that pair were causing all sorts of problems in before the half-time break as Hermes dominated but could not take advantage. For Loreto, their main threat was coming through the right-wing flyer, Zara Delaney – one of another three schoolgirls from Loreto, Beaufort also taking the pitch.

Loreto should have made Hermes pay for their profligacy. Senior internationals Cathy McKean and Nikki Symmons became increasingly more involved and were instrumental in winning eight penalty corners in the second half.

Their array of switches, though, would not produce a goal as, Sinead McDonnell twice took the ball off the line first from Rachel Keegan’s deflection and then from Symmons’ drag-flick.

Symmons also drew a smart save from Emma Grey’s stick as they pounded the Hermes goal. It meant golden goal and just three minutes in, Harte scored the goal to reclaim the trophy and secure a golden future for her club.

AIL Wildcard Playoff - Final places decided

UCD and Belfast Harlequins confirmed their place in next year's All-Ireland League places today. UCD topped the four-team group with a 2-0 win over UCC, Christine Quinlan getting the goals.

Belfast Harlequins drew with Galway, the second draw in a row for both sides. Claire Heskin scored for the Connacht side while Ruth Millar was on target for Quins.

They join Munster duo Cork Harlequins and C of I; Ulster's Pegasus, Armagh, Ballymoney and Randalstown and the Leinster quartet: Hermes, Railway Union, Loreto and Pembroke Wanderers.

Argentina claim Champion's Trophy

Argentina are the winners of the Samsung Champions Trophy Women 2008, after defeating Germany 6-2 in a wonderful final here in Mönchengladbach, Germany.

The thrilling encounter was played in front of the biggest crowd of the week, who did their best to encourage the home team in every possible way.

WorldHockey Player of the Year 2007 Luciana Aymar enhanced her reputation as the world’s finest player with a stunning performance, setting up two goals and at times looking like an almost unstoppable force going forward.

However, the match was not all about Aymar, with Alejandra Gulla scoring a three times to help her side triumph over Germany .

Aymar was named as the MVP of the tournament, with Germany ’s Kristina Reynolds given the goalkeeper of the tournament award. The top goal scorer award was jointly shared by Australia’s Megan Rivers and Netherlands Marilyn Agliotto, who both scored five times during the tournament.

Earlier in the day, The Netherlands produced a wonderful display to defeat China 3-0, sealing the Bronze medal. Goals came from Agliotto, Wieke Dijkstra and Eefke Mulder, sealing a terrific third place finish for a side that were far from full strength.

Australia made light work of defeating Japan in the 5th / 6th place play-off match, winning the contest 3-0. Nikki Hudson was in excellent form for her side, creating a goal and scoring another. Sarah Young opened the scoring for The Hockeyroos, with Rivers and Hudson completing the scoring.

However, it was Argentina ’s day, and they will hope that can take the confidence of winning this event into the Beijing Olympic Games. Argentina have sealed their place in the 2009 Samsung Champions Trophy, and will be joined by World Champions Netherlands and host nation Australia . The winning team at the 2008 Olympic Games plus the two highest finishers in Beijing will complete the line-up.

Hockey on Setanta

Setanta will be showing a wealth of hockey on the television over the next couple of days. Here's the current schedule for the next couple of days:

Sun 25-May 17:30 Womens Semi 2 - Pegasus v Hermes Setanta Ireland

Sun 25-May 22:30 Mens Semi 2 - Lisnagarvey v Three Rock Rovers Setanta Ireland

Mon 26-May 09:00 Mens Semi 2 - Lisnagarvey v Three Rock Rovers Setanta Ireland

Mon 26-May 15:00 Mens Semi 1 - Pembroke Wanderers v Glenanne Setanta Ireland

Mon 26-May 18:30 Womens Semi 2 - Pegasus v Hermes Setanta Ireland

Mon 26-May 20:00 ESB Club Championship Final - Hermes v Loreto Setanta Ireland

Mon 26-May 22:00 Mens Club Championship Final - Pembroke v TRR Setanta Ireland

Tues 27-May 09:00 ESB Club Championship Final - Hermes v Loreto Setanta Ireland

Tues 27-May 15:30 Mens Club Championship Final - Teams TBC Setanta Ireland

Thurs 29-May 09:00 Womens Semi 1 - Loreto v Railway Union Setanta Ireland

Thurs 29-May 19:00 ESB Club Championship Final - Hermes v Loreto Setanta Ireland

AIL Wildcard Playoff

UCD and Belfast Harlequins look the favourites to take the final places at next season's All-Ireland league after the second round of matches at Pembroke

Two Roisin Flynn goals were cancelled out by Sarah Wilkinson and Judy Getty's strikes for a 2-2 draw that sees both sides onto four points.

That leaves both sides three clear of Galway and UCC who played out a 1-1 draw, Sarah Gray scoring for the Munster students. Christine Rabbitte got the goal for Galway.

Club Champs semi-final: TRR 6 Lisnagarvey 5

In complete contrast to the first semi-final, TRR and Lisnagarvey served up an absolute cracker at UCD in the blazing sunshine to set up an All-Leinster pair of finals tomorrow afternoon.

A five-star performance from Mitch Darling had Rovers home and hosed early on before a near freakish comeback had the crowd gnawing at their nails until the very end.

Darling opened the scoring with his side’s second clear-cut chance after two minutes, a superb reverse shot from the left of the circle into the roof of the net.

And the Grange Road side dominated the first half, Darling doubling the lead from a tidy short corner.

‘Garvey pulled one back after a fortunate corner, awarded when Charlie Henderson got his feet in a tangle when faced with a simple clearance. Timmy Cockram scored the resulting drag-flick. Indeed, that was the Northern side’s one of only two significant attacks in the first half. From the other they won a stroke, off Alan Bothwell’s foot on the line.

Stephen Arbuthnot, though, could not take advantage, banging the ball off the post with Henderson going the wrong way.

Maarten Sier restored the two-goal advantage in bizarre fashion. His drag-flick was saved by David Williamson’s glove but looped high into the air. Attempting to clear the ball, a ‘Garvey defender knocked the strike the ball straight into his own net.

If that goal was lucky, the fourth was a thing of true beauty. A free out turned into a fifteen pass move, with no Lisnagarvey player getting near a touch or interception.

Passes down the right flank found Colin Huet on the backline whose pass across was met first time by Darling to fly high into the net to make it 4-1 – an excellent goal to round off the half.

The Northerners came back strong in the second half, knowing they would have to go some to keep their season alive for one more day.

Cockram and Mark Daniel both flashed wide before Darling looked to have well and truly finished the game in the 55th minute – his reverse wrong-footing Williamson after Andy McConnell laid on.

Brian Waring got one back a minute later with cracking aerial rebound but Darling got his fifth in the 58th minute to make it 6-2. It was another beautifully conceived goal, Andy McConnell blazing a trail down the right wing before waiting for the perfect moment to set up Darling for another spectacular finish.

That should have been that. But ‘Garvey showed the fighting spirit that saw them qualify for the semis with a last gasp goal against Pembroke.

Rovers were all at sea when Daniel Buser deflected in Mark Daniel’s cross with eight minutes to go.

The pair repeated the trick before Cockram’s second drag-flick made for a nervy final 190 seconds. They saw a cross bobble across the front of the goal before Rovers finally got a grip on the game and played out the remaining time in the Lisnagarvey corner.

A cracking game and one to look out for Setanta Ireland in the next few days.

Men's Club Champs: Pembroke 0 Glenanne 0 (Pemb win 4-2 on strokes)

In the many chapters of Glenanne and Pembroke’s recent history, this will barely be remembered beyond the result. Pembroke won out 4-2 in the end on penalty strokes.

The boys in green will probably point to Gary Shaw’s disallowed goal as the key moment when he was denied what looked a good goal. That and a Stephen Butler drag-flick were the best opportunities on a day where dogged defence and midfield niggle were the defining factors.

Nip and tuck throughout, there was little to separate the sides in normal time in a fractious and tetchy affair. Neither side managed to get much sustained momentum going forward.

John McInroy drew a sharp save from Stephen Doran in the fifth minute. Graham Shaw had a couple of half-chances before Stephen Butler’s first drag-flick drew an excellent stick save from David Harte in the 20th minute.

Pembroke’s best chance fell to Paddy Conlon – who was terrier-like best in midfield – making the chance himself with a solid tackle on the 25. He seemed well set to shoot but decided to pass and the chance was gone.

Captain Craig Fulton was sin-binned just before the break as the Glens ended the half the stronger.

Pembroke started the second well, three Alan Sothern shots comfortably saved by Doran.

The game’s most controversial moment, though, went against Glenanne when Gary Shaw was denied. Off balance, he managed to fire across a shot from the baseline which deflected into the goal off Ronan Gormley – who was otherwise the game’s standout player. The hit looked well inside the circle but was deemed to be outside by Colin Hutchinson.

It was a key point in the game and was the last goalmouth action for some time. Pembroke looked in dire need of freshening up their forward line, playing virtually the whole half without a switch despite putting in a huge amount of yardage.

Eddie O’Malley almost got the winner with 90 seconds on the clock, reacting first to Graham Shaw’s reverse but could got under the ball to loop it into the Belfield Bowl.

Pembroke bossed extra time but to no avail leaving the lottery of penalty strokes.

After Fulton and Butler scored, Gordon Elliott saw his saved by Doran. But back-to-back misses from Joe Brennan and Devin Kehoe gave Pembroke the chance of securing a third successive final place.

Gormley, Sothern and McInroy all scored to bag the win.

Club Champs semi-final: Hermes 3 Pegasus 2 (after golden goal)

A delightful deflection in the sixth minute of extra from Nicola Evans saw Hermes shock Pegasus and set up an all Leinster final.

Their young legs held out the best as they took the first and only chance of golden-goal extra-time as the excellent Anna O’Flanagan slid the ball through to Evans. Through one on one with Sharon Moffett, she needed just one just deft touch to slide home the winner.

Pegasus dominated the opening stages with Claire McMahon and Suzanne Beaney’s skills causing havoc up front.

But the Booterstown ladies had the clearer cut chances. Nicola Evans’ pace combined with good work from O’Flanagan and Aoife Harte created three good opportunities in the circle saw Evans clear but she was unable to get away a clean shot on goal.

Pegs’ took the lead in the 30th minute in sublime fashion. Beaney’s bag of tricks conjured up some space in midfield to find McMahon on the top of the D, with only Emma Grey to beat. A fantastic dummy sent Grey the wrong way for the former international to roll home.

The lead lasted barely 90 seconds, though, when O’Flanagan stole the ball on the right wing. She fed Chloe Watkins on the baseline who provided the perfect slip pass for the diving Carol Devine to sweep into the net from five yards.

As much as Pegasus controlled the first half, Hermes came back strongly in the second, winning their first three penalty corners within 15 minutes of the restart. The third – won by O’Flanagan – was converted by Aoife Harte after a sweet switch move, Jenny Kinch providing the pass.

But their lead was short lived, too. Beaney rode three tackles on the 25 to play through to Alex Speers. Her cross was tame but the clearance fell straight to Beaney who played on as the rest stopped for a perceived foot. Kieran Bolger played a good advantage and Beaney leveled the game up.

Devine had the best chance to win the game with three minutes to go but was unable to fire home from eight yards.

But Hermes did not have long to wait, as Evans’ goal sealed the final place.

Club Champs semi-final: Loreto 3 Railway Union 0

Three penalty corner goals were enough to see Loreto into the Club Championships final as they made the most of their chances against a brave Railway Union.

Nikki Symmons broke the deadlock early on with a drag-flick before Clodagh Greally made it 2-0 with a direct hit in the 30th minute.

In between, Cathy McKean had the best chance from play when she rounded Jane Coyne but was unable to get a clean shot away.

Railway had spent much of the opening stages on the back foot but once they stepped up to a more aggressive press they began to assert a lot more pressure and spent long periods in the Beaufort side's territory.

Indeed, they dominated after the break, penetrating the Loreto circle 15 times in the second half alone.

But they were once again stung by a Loreto corner, Symmons drag-flick again sneaking in as Coyne could not get a strong enough glove to push the ball wide.

Solid defending from Greally and the classy Hannah Matthews meant Railway were rarely given much space in the D, though, with Jean McDonnell and Kate McKenna flashing reverse shots just wide from sharp half-chances.

McKenna also drew a smart save from Louisa Healy, again with a reverse and Jean McDonnell’s short corner strike shaved the outside of the post, with ten minutes remaining.

A brave performance to end Railway’s season while Loreto now look forward to a final appearance and the chance to break Hermes and Pegasus’ duopoly.

UCD start playoffs in style

UCD got their All-Ireland league bid off to a good start as they beat Galway 4-0 in the opening match at the National Hockey Stadium. Irish international Lisa Jacob opened the scoring before a goal from Christine Quinlan and a brace from Rachel Burke completed the scoring.

Belfast Harlequins won their encounter with UCC 1-0, Ruth Kelly scoring the only goal of the game.

Women's Club Championship Finals preview

The Leinster trio will have their work cut out if they want to take the top honours at this weekend’s All-ireland Club Championship finals in UCD.

Pegasus are the obvious favourites for the competition starting with a semi-final against Hermes.

The battle sees two sides at opposite ends of the spectrum. Pegasus are inundated with Irish international experienced with Arlene Boyles, Jill Orbinson, Suzanne Beaney and Katharyn Smyth as well as livewire forward Alex Speers.

Hermes, meanwhile, is a side in transition according to coach Colin Stewart. The retirements of Catriona Carey and Mary Logue allied with Jenny Burke’s pregnancy have shorn the side of a lot of international experience.

The Tasmanian has replaced them with a trio of exceptional schoolgirls. Anna O’Flanagan bagged a hat-trick in the win, last weekend, over Cork C of I while underage internationals Chloe Watkins and Nikki Evans have grown rapidly into the team.

On the other half of the draw Railway Union are entering uncharted territory as they contest their first ever semi-final, taking on the might of Loreto.

The side, led by Cork woman Cathy Kenefick, will have to pull out all the stops to go that one step further.

They face Loreto, who - along with Pegasus – were one of the stand-out sides last weekend in the qualifying round as they profited most from the returning international players after their Olympic qualifying campaign.

ESB CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS
Saturday 24th May
UCD
9.30am ESB Loreto v Railway Union
11.45amESB Pegasus v Hermes

Sunday 25th May
UCD
2.15pm ESB Women's Club Championship Final