Hook Hockey

Town and Glens prosper as Pembroke fall

Men’s Leinster Division One
Saturday: Glenanne 3 (Graham Shaw, Gary Shaw, Jonathan Kane) Pembroke 1 (Patrick Good)
Glenanne’s come-from-behind victory over Pembroke very much announced them as major contenders in the title race with a deserved victory in a game peppered with yellow cards for bad tackles, a second of which earned Maurice Elliott a red. Patrick Good’s baseline run and intended pull back popped up into Stephen Brownlow for an unfortunate opening goal, the Glens player chesting in as he moved to cover the line.

But, from there, the Tallaght side were good value. Graham Shaw levelled with a straight corner hit for 1-1 at half-time. Gary Shaw affected the go-ahead goal when he turned over ball, played it to Eddie O’Malley who relayed his way to flick into the goal. The third was a little freakish as Richie Shaw’s baseline run hit a foot with every player pausing but Jonathan Kane took the initiative and smacked home off the unlucky David Williamson. The latter two goals came when Pembroke were down players as Elliott took two yellows and David Kane was also sidelined. Gary Shaw, Kane and Brendan Parsons also received enforced breaks.

Corinthian 1 (Dan Treacy) Railway Union 4 (Rob Abbott, Peter English, Karl Chapple, Fergal Keaveney)
Railway started a bumper weekend with what looks the killer blow in Corinthian’s IHL possibilities as the Park Avenue side found the going comfortable against the reds despite shipping nine corners. Those tended to come in series with only Dan Treacy – continuing his recent hot streak with his fourth in four games – converting. By that stage, Railway were out of sight at 4-0. Rob Abbott scored his 16^th of the campaign before the ten minute mark, deflecting home Karl Chapple’s cross. Peter English added a drag two minutes after the interval before Chapple redirected Richie Forrest’s cross from the left in the 45^th minute for 3-0. Fergal Keaveney’s first division one goal made it four as a good move saw him control nicely and score.

Monkstown 3 (Kyle Good 2, Andrew Ward) UCD 2 (Keith Kenning, Nick Burns)
Monkstown got out of jail with a late winner over UCD at Rathdown to go top of division one overnight on Saturday. They looked on course to bounce back from their midweek defeat to Three Rock when Andrew Ward struck brilliantly off the back foot inside two minutes for the opening goal. But Town old boy Keith Kenning got one back from a corner for parity. Kyle Good’s first of the game restored the lead, another good finish into the roof of the goal but Nick Burns’ corner looked set to nab a point, especially when Good was sin-binned with less than ten minutes to go. But he made a breath-taking return to the action as his first touch after his imposed break saw him rocket into the bottom corner for all three points.

YMCA 7 (Jonny Bruton 3, Marcus Richardson 3, Phil Powderly) Clontarf 0
Hat-tricks from Marcus Richardson and Jonny Bruton saw YMCA pick up their first win since early December in men’s division one, ending a run of three successive ties. It took just three minutes to get up and running as Richardson deflected home from an acute angle. Stephen Walker was forced to take one off the line while Stephen Cairns had a spectacular day between the posts, saving a string of corners.

But YM had the edge from play with Richardson playing in Bruton for 2-0 at half-time. Bruton rocketed in his second early in the second half while Jamie Tobin set up Richardson to make it 4-0. Three goals inside the last five minutes exacerbated the damage as both Bruton and Richardson completed their trebles in a minute with Phil Powderly central and he, too, got his name on the score sheet in the dying moments.

Sunday: Fingal 2 (Tom Manning, Eamonn Bane) Clontarf 2 (Kevin Mullins, Maverick Yow)
Eamon Bane snatched a late draw to escape being in a three-way share for the bottom rung of the table but it was a result both they and Clontarf will rue in the race to avoid relegation and the playoff place. Kevin Mullins got the only goal of the first half for the Bulls, latching onto a Cain Cooney pass after two Fingal defenders misjudged an overhead, leaving a two-on-one.

The ALSAA hosts had a few chances, including a corner in dead time of the first half but could not score. Stephen Cairns was proving to be outstanding for Clontarf but he was unable to stop Tom Manning levelling when a reverse shot/pass by David Bane went across the goal and Tom Manning picked it up and buried.

It was now all Fingal but, against the run of play, Clontarf won a corner and Maverick Yow dragged it low.  Almost immediately after, the nuggety Australian did superbly to take one off the line from Adrian Sweeney’s reverse as the airport side threw the kitchen sink forward. A good corner chance was reversed home by Luke Hayden only to be pulled back – following lengthy discussion – for an earlier incident with another corner the result while Fingal felt a foul on Gary Sharman merited a stroke.

A later drag by Glen Shekleton was stick saved unbelievably by Cairns but with 90 seconds left Eamon Bane pulled on a rare bouncing ball at ALSAA for 2-2. Simon McKeever drew another brilliant save from Cairns which could have won it but the draw stood.

Corinthian 2 (Davy Carson, Lucas Piccioli) Glenanne 5 (Eddie O’Malley, Paul Fitzpatrick, Gary Shaw, David Keogh, Jonathan Kane)
Glenanne managed to exert the tempo in the second half and take the lead in the three-horse race for the Leinster men’s title race after looking out of the reckoning at the end of the winter break. A frantic early phase saw the sides level at 2-2 in the 22^nd minute as Eddie O’Malley and Davy Carson traded goals before Paul Fitzpatrick’s sweetly hit corner strike on the switch was annulled by a Lucas Piccioli goal. But the Glens built a lead by half-time when Gary Shaw was slipped through one-on-one before being taken down. He converted the subsequent stroke for his 15^th goal of the campaign. On the hooter, David Keogh added a corner rebound for 4-2 and the Tallaght side were able to control the pace of the game much more in the second period, yielding a conclusive fifth when Gary Shaw nipped onto a defensive slip and Jonathan Kane deflected in for his second goal of a productive weekend. The result pushed them top, albeit with an extra game played than Monkstown who are point back.

UCD 2 (John Brennan, Shane O’Donoghue) Railway Union 5 (Eoin MacArthur 3, Jeremy Duncan, Peter English)
Eoin MacArthur produced an all-action performance to boost Railway to fourth place above YMCA as they stay unbeaten in the league since September. Having recently recovered from concussion, he half-volleyed the first after Kenny Carroll’s crash ball saw Rob Abbott draw a save into MacArthur’s path. Mark English created his second but Shane O’Donoghue’s drag in the 15^th minute put the game back in the mix. But MacArthur got another when he beat a couple and cracked in an upright reverse, a brilliant goal. Mark English’s mazy run open the door for Jeremy Duncan to slot home for 4-1 at half-time. John Brennan got one back after Shane O’Donoghue’s drag – from his side’s second corner – was saved, finishing emphatically over Carroll’s head. Peter English got his 19^th of the campaign with another drag, beating the impressive Conor Quinn who had a fine game between the posts despite the scoreline.

Men’s Irish Hockey Challenge – Semi Finals: Limerick 2 (Thomas Clarke, Nathan Eacrett) Ballynahinch 3 (Leslie Harrison, Gary Graham, Stuart Hunter); Kilkenny 6 (Lee Chadwick 2, David McClure 2, Adam Lynas, Neil Kidd) PSNI 3 (Brian Caskey, Ryan Garland, Chris O’Flaherty)