Avoca and Clontarf both ran up two wins each over the weekend to push on in men’s Leinster Division One.

Avoca started off with a 7-1 win over Bray on Saturday, going 3-0 up in the first half and never looking back as Richard Couse netted a hat trick and Elliott Goode scoring twice.

On Sunday, all the goals came in the first half of a 3-2 success at Kilkenny with Goode, Couse and Cian Funge outdoing Howard McDonnell’s double.

For Clontarf, they also had a 7-1 win on Saturday with Kevin Mullins grabbing four goals against Dublin North whose sole response came from Andy Quinn.

On Sunday, they went 1-0 behind against Portrane to a Brian McMahon goal. Tarf had the majority of the ball with the Fingal side looking dangerous on the counter. Cain Cooney did level things before half-time and it stayed at 1-1 until the final quarter before the Bulls pulled away with Luke Hayden, Davyn Keuter and Alan O’Malley scoring.

That was their sixth win out of six and gave them a three point lead at the top of the table albeit with Railway having a game in hand which they will play next Tuesday against Rathgar.

In the Irish Hockey Trophy, Rathgar made it through to the last eight with a 4-2 win over Catholic Institute. It was built around a big first half performance, Shane Gould, Jonny Orr and Andy Malcolm putting them 3-1 up and Mark Holland stretched that to 4-1.

Reigning champions Waterford won through in a shoot-out against Newry and UCC beat Cork rivals Ashton 5-2 thanks to a Simon Dring hat trick. Portrane were handed a walkover by Queen’s.

Otherwise, half the last eight come from Ulster as Raphoe beat Bangor, South Antrim saw off Kilkenny, Belfast Harlequins outdid Portadown, and NICS got a walkover.

GOAL. Back post deflection from Mark Holland. 4-1. pic.twitter.com/om25oQaPKO

— Rathgar HC (@RathgarHC) November 16, 2019

Men’s Leinster Division 1

Saturday: Avoca 7 (R Couse 3, E Goode 2, K Mellott, E Rankin) Bray 1 (J Lacey-Curtis); Dublin North 1 (A Quinn) Clontarf 7 (K Mullins 4, S Harper, J Edmonds, L Hayden)

Sunday: Clontarf 4 (C Cooney, L Hayden, D Keuter, A O’Malley)  Portrane 1 (B McMahon); Kilkenny 2 (H McDonnell 2) Avoca 3 (E Goode, R Couse, C Funge)

Wednesday: Portrane v Weston, Donabate LC, 8.30pm

Saturday: Weston v Avoca, Griffeen Valley Park, 12pm

Tuesday, November 26: Rathgar v Railway Union, High School, 7.40pm

Mills Cup, quarter-final: Corinthian 2 (D Howard 2) Dublin University 1 (T Stroch)

Irish Hockey Trophy – Round 2: Bangor 2 (D McClune, R Townsley) Raphoe 3 (G Patterson, J Meehan, J Long); Belfast Harlequins 5 (M Gray 2, S McGrath 2, A Tweed) Portadown 2 (S Johnson, R Bennett); Kilkenny 2 (H McDonnell 2) South Antrim 4 (M Taylor 2, J Brown, B Clarke); NICS w/o Weston scr; Rathgar 4 (S Gould, J Orr, A Malcolm, M Holland) Catholic Institute 2; UCC 5 (S Dring 3, J Costello, J Allen) Ashton 2 (M Stockil, N Packham); Waterford 3 (I Balding, R Isaacs, I Johnson) Newry 3 (K Williams 2, J Taylor), Waterford win shoot-out 5-4; Queen’s scr Portrane w/o

Munster Division 1: Bandon 0 Cork C of I 3 (E Finnegan, S Wolfe, A Salter)