Banbridge were the big winners in the Anderson Cup as they thrashed North Down 9-0 on Saturday to progress to the quarter-finals.
Lisnagarvey, Queen’s University and Portadown are amongst those who will join the reigning champions in the hat for the next round.
Scott McCandless’ side are one of the heavy favourites to once again win the competition and got their defence of their title off to a blistering start.
Goals from Johnny McKee, Adam McKee and Mark Barlow gave the home side a 3-0 lead at the halfway mark.
Two more goals for Johnny McKee as well as strikes from Philip Brown (2) and Jake Rowe brought the result beyond doubt before Josh Moffit rounded off a great team move and sealed a 9-0 win for the home side.
The result confirms the title holders place in next weeks quarter-finals as they begin their quest for yet more silverware in the 2024/25 campaign.
In Belfast, Portadown got the upset of the round as they came out on top in a nine-goal thriller against Instonians.
The home side are amongst those who will be expected to be in the Men’s Premier League title race this season but came undone despite two goals from Matthew McCord as well as strikes from Matthew McAreavey and Stephen Kelso.
Mark Campbell, Jamie Wright and Luke Bell all got their names on the scoresheet for the visitors whilst two penalty corner strikes from youngster Ben Thompson helped seal the narrow victory at Shawsbridge.
A new look Queen’s University side showed their quality at Newforge as they sealed a comfortable 5-1 victory over PSNI.
Harry Scott proved to be the star of the show as he showed his quality throughout the tie and marked his start to the campaign with four goals.
Their hosts did manage to grab a consolation goal in the tie, but the students showed their class and never looked like losing.
The scoring was rounded off as debutant Josh Brownlee marked his first game for the University with a goal and sealed the 5-1 win.
The students will now face fellow premiership side Portadown next Saturday for a place in the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, there was one game on Thursday night as EYHL side Lisnagarvey beat Premier League champions Cookstown 5-2.
Two goals from Daniel Nelson as well as strikes from Andy Williamson, Harry Archbold and Ryan Getty sealed the win despite a goal from Greg Allen and a brilliant solo effort from Mark Cuddy.
