Annadale and UCD produce mighty comebacks in men’s EYHL

Men’s EY Hockey League – day five round-up
Annadale 3 (O McElhinney 2, A Lyons) Monkstown 3 (D Carson, R Nichols, D Nolan)
Annadale produced a remarkable comeback from 3-0 down to record their fourth draw of the campaign. Monkstown looked to be gliding to a third win of the season in the early stages. Mark Gibbons hit the post in the seventh minute from turnover ball deep in Dale territory.

But they only had to wait until the ninth minute when John Guilfoyle picked up a loose ball and fed Davy Carson who scored on his backhand. Rory Nichols nailed Town’s only corner of the match for a 2-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

David Nolan finished off a stunning team goal, started at the back and going through over 10 passing interchanges as Town looked set for an easy afternoon.

Hints it would not be so simple came just before half-time when Dale had four penalty corners in quick succession which were repelled. The hosts had lots of pressure in the second half and they were rewarded when Owen McElhinney turned in a cross from the left flank.

With Town going into card trouble, it was game on when Allen Lyons weaved his way out of some tackles and flicked in. The comeback was complete deep into the final quarter when Tim Cross fed Patrick Rose on the baseline and he centred for McElhinney to sweep in for 3-3.

UCD 3 (E Ramsay 2, J Menelaou) YMCA 3 (S Hyland 2, B O’Grady)
UCD snatched their first point of the season as they scored three second half penalty corners to come back from 2-0 and 3-1 down against YMCA at Belfield.

YM got off to a great start when Ben O’Grady dragged in a corner in the first quarter and Sam Hyland – fresh from his international debut in midweek – slapped home from the right of the circle after a swift overlapping run down the right.

Matthew Hoolohan-O’Brien kept his side just about in it with some corner stops to keep it at 2-0 into half-time.

The students, though, started to run up a healthy corner count and were back in it when a switch left was then slapped into the middle with Ewan Ramsay credited with the goal.

YM went back into a 3-1 lead in the fourth quarter from a Hyland stroke after Fionn Marriott was bundled over. But UCD replied within a minute with another corner variation, Ramsay again lurking around the flick spot to deflect in.

Jay Menelaou then got the equaliser when yet another corner hit the post and rebounded to him on the right to finish off his first goal for collidge. There was still time for them to earn another corner which YM defended well along with another chance from play while the Y were left to rue a huge chance in the last 10 seconds but Ross Henderson could not get enough purchase on his shot from Marriott’s driving run.

Glenanne 3 (S Boucher, S O’Donoghue, G Gibney) Banbridge 1 (C Curry)
Glenanne made it five wins in succession to maintain their perfect start to the season and five-point gap to the chasing pack. Shannon Boucher got the tie up and running with a third minute penalty corner goal but Bann responded immediately via Chris Curry – 1-1 after four minutes.

It was a very evenly contested tie after that but Glenanne landed the crucial blows with Gavin Gibney getting his first of the season in the second half before Shane O’Donoghue made the game safe with his ninth goal of the campaign in the fourth quarter.

Corinthian 1 (I Stewart) Three Rock Rovers 4 (R Canning 2, A Empey, E Jennings)
Three Rock Rovers bounced back from their Euro Hockey League campaign in strong fashion to continue their unbeaten start to the men’s EY Hockey League, winning the Dublin 16 derby.

Quick finishes in the circles early in the first quarter from Ross Canning and Ali Empey had the visitors flying high at Whitechurch Park. At this stage, Rovers had more of the play but Ian Stewart scored via a deflection off Ben Ryder trying to cover to put the game back in the balance at half-time

Both sides played rather cautiously until quarter 4 when Corinthian took off their goalkeeper as they pressed for an equaliser.

But a defensive error let in Evan Jennings and he scored into an empty net; Canning then finished off a good move after Thornton had made a reappearance.

Pembroke 0 Lisnagarvey 3 (J Lorimer, O Kidd, B Nelson)
Lisnagarvey made it three wins in succession to rise to third place in the table as Pembroke remain in search of their first win of the campaign. After a scoreless first half, James Lorimer dragged in the first goal in the third quarter for 1-0.

Ollie Kidd then volleyed over Mark Ingram for the second and Ben Nelson concluded the victory with three minutes remaining.