South Antrim maintained their perfect start in the Men’s Premier League as they beat Instonians 3-0 on Saturday afternoon.
A first-quarter strike from Chris Henry gave the Lisburn side an early lead before Rory Brown benefited from a rebound off the post to tap in and double their lead.
David Gallagher put the result beyond doubt when he netted his first goal of the campaign to bring the scoreline to 3-0 and wrapped up all three points for his side.
The defeat sees Instonians lose the top spot in the division to Saturday’s opponents as they now drop to third place behind Cookstown.
In Comber, North Down got their first win of the season as they came out on top of a nine-goal thriller against Bangor
It was the hosts who took an early lead with Phil Wilson opening the scoring, however, goals from brothers JJ and Seb Holley turned the game on its head as they put Bangor 2-1 up with JJ netting his third goal of the season.
Like their hosts, Bangor were unable to hold onto their lead as Harry Templeton drew the sides level once more before Josh Gilmore and Gareth Mckeown extended the lead to 4-2.
Another strike from Templeton looked to have put the game beyond doubt before two Chris Burgess drag flicks brought the scoring to 5-4, but it proved too little too late as North Down held on for all three points.
Cookstown dropped points for the first time this season as they drew 2-2 at home to Queen’s University.
The Mid-Ulster side took an early lead as Scott McCabe fired in from close range after just five minutes of play at Cookstown High School.
Despite the early goal, the hosts didn’t have it all their own was as Queen’s were awarded a penalty stroke, but the effort was brilliantly saved by goalkeeper Josh McCabe.
Eventually, the students’ pressure paid off as Harry Scott fired in from the top of the circle and put the sides level going into the half-time break.
The hosts took the lead for a second time after good work from Mark Crooks who set up Michael Kerr, but again they were pegged back as Ben Law’s penalty corner in the final quarter earned a hard-fought point for the students.
Portadown followed up last week’s 2-2 draw with Instonians by beating Kilkeel 5-2 at Edenvilla on Saturday.
It was the visitors who opened the scoring as Luke Russell got his second goal of the season in the first quarter, but they were soon pegged back as Jamie Wright scored from open play to level the scoring.
Ryan Bennett scored from the penalty spot for the second week running to put Portadown ahead before his brother Mackenzie made it 3-1 on the brink of half-time.
A second Bennett penalty stroke brought the game beyond Kilkeel as he netted his fourth goal of the campaign to make it 4-1.
Ashton Graham thought he had given Kilkeel a lifeline when he made it 4-2 but a second of the afternoon from Jamie Wright rounded off a 5-2 win for the hosts.
The final game of the weekend saw Belfast Harlequins draw 1-1 with P.S.N.I to go fourth in the division whilst Saturday’s opponents stay seventh.
