The line up for the quarter-finals of the Anderson Cup is still to be confirmed after Thursday night’s game between Instonians and Mossley at Shaw’s Bridge was postponed due to frost.
Inst, who had won the first leg 2-1 with Dane Ward the two-goal hero, will now meet Mossley on Saturday, with the winners due to face North Down. In Saturday’s quarter-final first leg games, Annadale will meet Banbridge, Newry will host Cookstown and Garvey will be at home to Bangor.
On Wednesday, Lisnagarvey and Annadale progressed to the last eight while Cookstown had joined those two teams 24 hours earlier. Kilkeel were 3-2 winners in the first leg suggesting a close fought contest in the rematch at Strathearn and so it proved as the home team won 5-3 to go through by one goal, 7-6, overall. Holders Kilkeel trailed 5-0 at one stage but were in no mood to lie down clearly as they fought back to score three times in the second-half to set up a grandstand finish.
Ryan Burgess and Peter Caruth were on target to make it 2-0 and advantage Dale in the first half. Burgess completed his treble after the break when David Tremlett was also on the mark to make it 5-0 and, seemingly, tie over. But Kilkeel had other ideas and recovered brilliantly to get back into contention with goals from Edward Agnew, Richard Fraser and William Annett but they were unable to add another to force a shootout.
Cookstown carried an 8-1 lead into the second leg against Portadown and completed a 13-2 aggregate win with a 5-1 success in the second phase. Stuart Smyth scored two of the goals with the others coming from Ryan Millar, Michael Kerr and Jack Haycock with Adam Stevenson replying for the Ports.
Lisnagarvey, 8-3 winners over local rivals South Antrim in the first leg, were similarly emphatic overall winners after a 5-1 second leg win at Comber Road to complete a 13-4 aggregate success. Andy Williamson, Troy Chambers, Matthew Nelson, Ben Nelson and Oliver Kidd were on the scoresheet for Garvey with James Brown replying.
In the first games in the split, the bottom-tier Ulster Premier sides are in action with Portadown hosting NICS, Queen’s at home to Harlequins and Raphoe playing Antrim in Donegal.
On Sunday, the action switches indoors with the Ulster Championship at the Queens PEC. Cookstown are looking foward to the change of pace as they take part in the series which gets going at 10am, with the winners of the round-robin tournament going on to represent Ulster at the All Ireland Indoor Finals in Antrim the following Sunday.
Cookstown’s first match is against North Down at 11.30am with match two against home side Queen’s University at 12.30pm before they finish up with a mouth-watering match against Banbridge at 3pm.
“We’ve had a great time at the Indoor Championships over the last few years,” said Reds’ defender Jack Haycock. “Hopefully we can get a similar result as we did in 2017.
“I don’t think you can look at it being a Cookstown v Banbridge shoot-out. This form of the game is very different to the eleven-a-side game and each of the other teams will bring their own strengths to the matches. It will definitely be an exciting day’s hockey and I’d encourage as many Cookstown supporters as possible to get down to cheer our lads on. The whole tournament could easily be decided on goal difference!”
On the women’s scene, Queen’s have a chance to make up ground on Lurgan, whose scheduled games with Mossley and Banbridge were called off on Wednesday and Saturday, as the students take on Bann on Friday night. During the week, Queen’s who were runners up last season, were 4-0 winners over Bann with goals from Tori Hastings, Alyssa Jebb, Jessica McMaster and Emily McStea.
In Saturday’s other top-flight games, basement side Rainey are at home to Mossley and Ballymoney can also close the gap on Lurgan if they can overcome Dungannon at the Joey Dunlop Centre.
FIXTURES
Men
Ulster Premier League Tier B
13:00 Portadown v N.I. Civil Service @ Edenvilla
13:00 Queens University v Belfast Harlequins @ Malone Playing Fields
14:30 Raphoe v Antrim @ Royal and Prior Sch.
Ulster Intermediate League
13:00 Ballymena v Portrush @ Ballymena Academy
14:00 Down v CI @ Malone Park
13:00 Parkview v Saintfield @ Ballyclare H.S.
14:30 PSNI v Armagh @ NICS
Anderson Cup – Round 1 – 2nd Leg
14:30 Instonians v Mossley @ Shaw’s Bridge
Round 2 – 1st leg
14:30 Annadale v Banbridge @ Strathearn
14:30 Newry v Cookstown @ Newry H.C.
14:30 Lisnagarvey v Bangor @ Lisnagarvey HC
Women
Friday
Ulster Premier League
19:30 Randalstown v Queen’s @ Antrim Forum
Senior One
20:00 Portadown v Club KV @ Edenvilla
Saturday
Ulster Premier League
14:30 Ballymoney v Dungannon @ Joey Dunlop L.C.
16:00 Rainey v Mossley @ Meadowbank Sports Arena
Ulster Senior 1
13:00 Castle v Priorians @ Carrick
13:00 CI v Armagh @ CIYMS
14:30 Coleraine v Raphoe @ Coleraine Rugby Club
13:00 North Down v Omagh @ Comber LC
Ulster McConnell Shield
Lisnagarvey 2 v Belfast Harlequins 2
Mossley 2 v Ballyclare
Pegasus 2 v Queens University 2
Saintfield v Ards 2
Sunday 20th January 2019
Ulster Men’s Indoor Championship (QUB PEC)
