, ,

Pembroke’s late equaliser against Corinthian keeps men’s EYHL relegation battle live

Men’s EYHL – day 16 round-up

Pembroke 2 (I Johnson, M Duggan) Corinthian 2 (M Neill, P Caruth)

Mark Duggan’s last minute equaliser gave Pembroke denied Corinthian a vital victory in the battle to avoid relegation as he struck a cracking reverse-stick shot to make it 2-2 at Serpentine Avenue.

It keeps Pembroke in ninth place but, vitally, they remain in touch with Corinthian, trailing the reds and safety by two points with two rounds of matches still to play.

Pembroke made most of the first half play but left huge holes at the back twice to be caught on the counter. In the early stages, former Pembroke man Simon Thornton did well to keep out Cian Murphy despite getting into a little tangle and he also got a solid boot to Philip Forster’s shot.

The reds, however, took the lead when Chad Futcher launched a big overhead from the edge of his own circle which Max Neill picked up on the opposing D. He rounded Ilko Dartsch down the right to slip the ball home from a tight angle.

It was 2-0 when Caruth was set free in acres of space inside his own half and he was able to find Brinsley Powell overlapping on the baseline. He looked to be impeded but a good advantage allowed the ball to be shovelled into Caruth’s path to finish off.

Pembroke closed out the half with two more chances as Isaac Johnson and a Sothern drag were both turned away by Thornton.

Caruth cleared the bar from a tight angle in the second half before Pembroke started to piled on the pressure. A big block from Ben Murphy kept out a corner as the reds soaked up a huge amount of pressure in Q3 but the lead was cut in half in the fourth quarter when Ronan Flannery powered down the baseline and his cross was finished off first time by Johnson.

And Pembroke laid an even bigger siege to the Corinthian circle which was eventually breach with about 45 seconds left on the counter. It came again down the right wing with Alex Burns finding Duggan peeling away from goal where he unleashed a rocket of a strike to earn the point.

Monkstown 4 (G Sarratt 2, L Cole, M Gibbons) YMCA 1 (R Henderson)

Monkstown made it six wins in succession to move up to second place in the table as a pair of Guy Sarratt saw them pull away from YMCA at Rathdown in the third quarter.

Town had a corner within the first 20 seconds when Davy Carson was felled wife on the right; Lee Cole ripped the ball into the net for a lead they never relinquished. It was 2-0 in the fifth minute when Lee Cole’s long overhead found Jeremy Duncan who laid off to Geoff Cole on the outside. His cross was pin-point and Mark Gibbons was able to guide into the net.

YM were back in the contest in the 10th minute when Sam Hyland danced through a couple of tackles before reversing from the left baseline to Ross Henderson to touch in, 2-1.

From there, the Y had the vast majority of the play but could not take advantage with five corners drawing no score while Grant Glutz’s reverse was well saved by David Fitzgerald.

The goalkeeper also produced a wonderful block from Harry McCarthy’s deflection; Fionn Marriott’s direct running also created three glorious chances with Keith Kenning clearing off the line.

But things unravelled in the third quarter as Guy Sarratt scored from a penalty corner to make it 3-1. Sam Hyland took a 10-minute yellow for a physical foul on Duncan and the Ben O’Grady followed him off. Down to nine, Town took advantage with Sarratt scoring another corner goal. Jakim Bernsden made an outstanding save from Davy Carson to keep it at 4-1 as Monkstown closed out the result with relative ease despite their serious discomfort in the middle phases of the game.

Banbridge 1 (Peter Brown) Annadale 0

Peter Brown got the only goal of the game in the Ulster derby as Banbridge beat Annadale to stay in the hunt for an EY Champions Trophy semi-final ticket.

It came in the second quarter with Peter Brown doing all the work, tackling a defender on the 23-metre line where he whipped the ball onto his reverse and shot home.

Both sides endured a number of cards in the second half but, otherwise, it was a match very low on chances with no penalty corners for either side and precious few sights of goal.

For Bann, they are in fourth place and two points off second spot with two matches to go while Annadale are three points above the relegation zone but can attain safety if they get

UCD 0 Lisnagarvey 4 (M Nelson 2, D Nelson, O Kidd)

Lisnagarvey extended their lead in the men’s EY Hockey League to four points, as they eased to a 4-0 win over already relegated UCD. For Garvey, they led from the seventh minute when Matthew Nelson nailed a reverse-stick shot for the only goal of the first half.

He turned provider for Daniel just after the break who slipped him the ball which was duly dispatched to the roof of the goal. Matthew provided  wondrous third, driving into the circle and shooting low into the bottom corner before Kidd continued his excellent scoring form to complete the win.

Three Rock Rovers v Glenanne – postponed

High winds mean the watering system at Grange Road was unable to reach all parts of the water-based turf with areas deemed dangerous for play and thus the tie was postponed.

/by