Glenanne move five clear in men’s EY Hockey League

Men’s EY Hockey League – day four round-up
Banbridge 4 (J McKee, L Rowe, S Farson, M Cowan) Pembroke 4 (J Dale 3, I Johnson)
Pembroke picked up their first point of the season as Julian Dale continued his impressive run of form, netting a hat trick. He grabbed the first from a corner flick in the second quarter before Bann fought back went in front with Jonny McKee netting a penalty stroke after his own run was cut short.

Then Louis Rowe tapped in after a fantastic interchange with Peter Brown and McKee. Isaac Johnson, though, ensured it was level at half-time with his first EYHL goal – on the same day his brother Ben got a first EHL goal for Three Rock Rovers.

Bann were in front again when Mark Cowan slotted from mid-circle after some silky skills from Brown but Dale’s second drag of the day tied it for a third time.

Sam Farson put the hosts in front for a third time from a short corner but Dale had the final word when he slapped home.

YMCA 2 (S Hyland, G Glutz) Annadale 2 (R Davidson, A McAllister)
Grant Glutz salvaged a point for YMCA as they eventually made their corner machine work in the closing minutes after Anandale had twice led at Wesley College.

After an even first quarter, Annadale took the lead on the counter following a brilliant inch perfect through ball from Tim Cross who found Samuel Porter-Samuels in the D and he drew the keeper and then squared for Robbie Davidson to slot into an open goal.

For the remainder of the quarter, YM battled back well but saw a series of corners shut out as Annadale held strong. The pattern was similar in Q3 with YM having the majority of possession but were mostly restricted to crash balls into circle while Annadale continued to look dangerous on counter.

Into Q4 and YM equalised after a Glutz short corner was saved but only as far as Sam Hyland who rebounded well. The hosts initially looked the more likely to push on but Dale pounced again with five minutes to go with Adam McCallister finding space in the middle of the circle to score for a second week in a row.

YM immediately pulled keeper but then quickly got a yellow card to negate the man advantage outfield. Nonetheless, they got another corner which Glutz planted low into the backboard.

Monkstown 1 (R Nichols) Corinthian 2 (C Futcher, I Stewart)
Ian Stewart’s brilliant finish with 11 minutes to go earned Corinthian their first win of the season, coming from a goal down to beat Monkstown at Rathdown.

There was precious little between the sides in the first half which ended scoreless. Rory Nichols third goal of the week put Monkstown 1-0 up from a corner six minutes into the second half but it was countered quickly by Chad Futcher who continued his goal a game start to the season.

That set up a lively closing. From a mammoth overhead, Stewart was set free and while he initially seemed to take the ball to a more difficult angle, he applied an excellent upright reverse-stick shot for the crucial goal.

UCD 0 Glenanne 6 (S O’Donoghue 3, R Couse, B Venter, G Shaw)
Glenanne made it four wins in succession to move five points clear at the top of the men’s EY Hockey League with Shane O’Donoghue raising his total to eight goals in four games this term.

It leaves UCD as the last time left without a point from the current campaign but they started well in the first quarter. However, against the run of play, the Glens won a stroke which O’Donoghue converted. He added a corner goal before the end of the first quarter and there was no real doubt where the points were heading after that.

A second stroke in the second quarter extended the lead to 3-0 at half-time. Richard Couse, Brad Venter and Gary Shaw weighed in with further goals in the second half for a handsome win.