Lisnagarvey will be Ulster’s only representative in the semi finals of the Irish Senior Cup after beating Pembroke 3-1 at Comber Road on Sunday.
But there were defeats for Banbridge, who went down 4-3 to Three Rock Rovers and Cookstown who lost 3-2 to Cork C of I, with both local sides at home. Glenanne were awarded a walkover against Kilkeel so there will be two Leinster sides and one each from Ulster and Munster in the last four.
Garvey went 3-0 up against Pembroke with goals from Jonny Bell and Matty Nelson before Harry Spain’s late reply. Bann trailed 3-0 against Three Rock but recovered superbly to draw level after two goals from Eugene Magee and one from Josh Moffett before Luke Madeley’s late winner.
Former international John Jermyn hit a hat-trick for Cork at Cookstown, whose replies came from Greg Allen and Stuart Smyth, at 0-1 and 1-3 down.
In the EYHL, only goal difference separates leaders Glenanne, 1-0 winners at Pembroke and Banbridge who beat YMCA 4-2 in Dublin on Saturday. Bann’s efficiency in the first 20 minutes saw them get by the YM challenge. They raced out of the blocks with Zach McClelland forcing home in the second minute after three Jakim Bernsden saves in quick succession.
The goalkeeper also made a block before the second fell nicely for Eugene Magee to fire into the roof. Despite the scoreline, YM were creating chances but not taking them and this was punished again in the 20th minute when Jonny McKee smashed in on his reverse for 3-0.
Cillian Hynes pulled one back from a baseline cross before the break to reduce the arrears to 3-1 at half-time. Magee restored the three-goal gap early in the second half when Bann kept alive a corner routine that had broken down. Bann did miss a stroke with Bernsden saving well while Gabriel de Grandis and Ross Beattie took a yellow each for an off the ball incident.
Hynes was felled for a YM stroke but it was missed too, Thom Ritchie not catching his effort and Luke Roleston saved comfortably. Ritchie, David Rae, Aaron Bailey and McKee all spent time in the sin-bin before Andrew Jones got one back for YM in the closing minutes to make it 4-2.
Lisnagarvey continued their excellent run of form, making it four wins in succession as they got the better of Three Rock Rovers 2-0 in a well contested battle at Comber Road. It was very tight for the first quarter with Daniel Nelson drawing a brilliant save from Jamie Carr while Jody Hosking went close at the far end before the sides traded penalty corners.
Matthew Nelson broke the deadlock in the 47th minute with a goal from play. Rovers pushed on but could not get their corner machine into full gear with James Milliken saving twice. Garvey, meanwhile, were more incisive and they got their clinching goal with 13 minutes to go with teenager Troy Chambers making it 2-0. The result lifts Lisnagarvey up to 22 points, keeping them just three points off the pace set by Banbridge and Glenanne.
Annadale drew 3-3 with Cork C of I at Strathearn where the visitors started the better with Simon Wolfe and Jonny Bruton making inroads, winning corners, the second of which John Jermyn dispatched via a deflection. Tony Brophy won the next corner which was upgraded to a stroke; Jermyn again did the honours for 2-0 in the 13th minute.
Jermyn was also called on to save a Ryan Burgess drag off the line before the end of the first quarter. Dale stepped up their game in the second quarter and Burgess did get on the board in the 24th minute from a drag. Three further set-pieces for the hosts went unconverted before half-time but the hosts did go in front when Callum Robson fired home a cracking reverse-stick effort for 2-2. And the turnaround was complete when Adam McAllister got on the end of a corner move to give Annadale a 3-2 lead with 20 minutes to go. At this stage, the tie had followed the exact same format as the first meeting between the clubs but C of I summoned another leveller with Wolfe getting a delightful deflection from a crash ball for the final word.
Cookstown and Monkstown fought out a very enjoyable 4-4 draw in the EY Hockey League at Steelweld Park. There were half-chances at either end before Callum Anderson put Cookstown ahead with a seriously good first-time half-volley into the bottom corner. Monkstown got back into the game in the second quarter, though Cookstown calls for a foot in the build-up to their equaliser went unheeded. Two passes later and Davy Carson steered the ball home with a really classy finish for 1-1.
That drove on Monkstown and only for Dan Crooks’ save on the line, Carson would’ve had a double. The men in blue did edge in front soon afterwards through Guy Sarratt’s powerful drag from a penalty corner. A yellow card for Stu Smyth put Cookstown under pressure, but Ryan Millar did manage to hit the post before Monkstown made their extra man count with Carson forcing the ball home for 3-1.
Monkstown were still celebrating when Cookstown made it 3-2, Anderson deflecting Greg Allen’s drive past Davy Fitzgerald. Sarratt slotted home a carbon copy of his first with three minutes left until half time, but there was still time for another goal in the second quarter. It went to Cookstown with Allen smashing home with an old-fashioned long handle hit to make it 4-3 at the short whistle.
By comparison, the second period was a relatively boring affair. The first meaningful event came when Ryan Millar scored high into the net for Cookstown from second phase at short corner time. However, the umpire adjudged it to have been the first shot on goal and reversed his decision. It was a tense match for much of the final quarter with Cookstown pegged back defending.
When they did get the chance to counter through Stu Smyth, it drew a green card for Monkstown’s Jason Lynch and this gave them the impetus for Greg Allen to deflect home a Keith Black route one ball into the circle. There was a flurry of chances at both ends before the whistle went and the two teams got a share of the points.
Instonians II will be Ulster’s sole team in the semi-finals of the Irish Junior Cup following a 2-1 win over YMCA II in Dublin while Civil Service beat North Down on penalties to earn a date with Waterford in the Irish Hockey Trophy final.
Meanwhile, there was no change at the foot of the women’s EYHL table after Old Alex defeated Muckross 2-0 in Dublin on Sunday. However, the result means it’s almost certain to be a two-horse race between Ards and Muckross to avoid automatic relegation. Ards are currently one point better off than the Leinster side but have two games in hand while Alex are now 11 points clear of the bottom two.
Meanwhile, Ballymoney ended one of the longest unbeaten records in the Ulster Premier League when they defeated Queen’s 1-0 at the Joey Dunlop Centre on Saturday. Queen’s went through last season without losing in 20 matches and, going into Saturday’s clash had gone nine games undefeated in the current campaign. However, while they are now 10 points behind leaders Ballymoney, Simon Bell’s team have the benefit of four games in hand.
The Queen’s coach said: “I thought we were the better team and I felt we deserved at least a draw from the game. We had more possession and won the penalty corner count but were maybe a little shot-shy when it came to the final third. It’s naturally disappointing to lose our long unbeaten record but I’d rather it came to an end now than maybe with two or three games to go.”
Katherine Minihan scored what proved to be the only goal of the game when she rattled home a penalty corner in the 13th minute. Money had another Minihan set-piece effort disallowed for the ball being struck too high as they shaded the first half. Queen’s fought hard to get back into the game, winning a barrage of penalty corners but the home defence stood firm.
Champions Lurgan stay second after a comfortable 3-0 home win over Lisnagarvey. Sarah McClure gave the hosts an early lead when she converted a penalty corner in the fifth minute. Garvey went on to dominate possession for the remainder of the first half without being able to capitalise. Lurgan added a second through a Lauren Wright penalty corner in the 53rd minute and Jo-Anne Reid wrapped things up five minutes later.
Ulster Elks have moved up to third place after a 4-2 comeback win over Dungannon at the Royal School. Goals from Georgina Mulligan and Jessica Hood put the home team 2-1 up at the break after Judithe Allen’s eighth minute opener. But the Jordanstown side responded with strikes from Bronwyn Kretzmann, Leah Paul and Becca Anderson after the restart.
In Senior One Raphoe stay top after an emphatic 6-0 win over North Down while promotion rivals Omagh shared 10 goals in a 5-5 draw with CI.
Results
Women
Saturday
Ulster Premier League: Ballymoney 1 (K Minihan) Queen’s 0; Dungannon 2 (G Mulligan, J Hood) Ulster Elks 4 (J Allen, B Kretzmann, L Paul, B Anderson); Lurgan 3 (S McClure, L Wright, J-A Reid) Lisnagarvey 0
Senior One: Castle 1 (L Passmore) Club KV 6 (A Trimble 2, R Hewitt, J Doak, E McAteer, J Orr); Coleraine 2 (Z Craig, S Nutt) Armagh 0; Omagh 5 (L Armstrong 2, D Darragh, E Shortt, E Fulton) CI 5 (B Young 2, J Stewart, L Ternahan 2); Priorians 2 (E Goodman, R McSparron) Portadown 1 (L Craig); Raphoe 6 (L Patterson 2, S Barnett, L Tinney, W Patterson, K Love) North Down 0.
Sunday
EYHL: Old Alex 2 (A Connery, H McDermott) Muckross 0.
Men
EYHL: Lisnagarvey 2 (M Nelson, T Chambers) Three Rock 0; YMCA 2 (C Hynes, A Jones); Cookstown 4 (C Anderson 2, G Allen 2) Monkstown 4 (D Carson 2, G Sarratt 2); Annadale 3 (R Burgess, C Robson, A McAllister) Cork C of I 3 (J Jermyn 2, S Wolfe); Pembroke 0 Glenanne 1
Ulster Premier: Newry 3 (K Fletcher, R Simms, M Russell) Bangor 3 (M Willis 2, C Barnes); Portadown 8 (S Johnston 3, M Beattie 2, M Winter, A Stevenson, M Bennett) Antrim 2 (D Wilson, R McCrea); Queen’s 6 (J Taggart, S McCabe, J Hermon, M Warnock, D Reid, B Alford) Raphoe 2 (J Allen, K Meehan)
Intermediate League: Armagh 1 Saintfield 4; PSNI 2 Ballymena 3; CI 5 Portrush 0; Ballynahinch 4 Parkview 0
Irish Hockey Trophy Semi-finals: Civil Service 3 (J Hall, M Vincent, A Gill) North Down 3 (G McKeown, J Moore, J Clarke). Service won on penalty runs; Rathgar 1 Waterford 1 (Waterford won on penalty runs)
Irish Junior Cup Quarter-finals: Banbridge II 1 Three Rock II 3; Monkstown II 4 Belfast Harlequins II 0; Dublin YMCA II 1 Instonians II 2; Glenanne II 6 Lisnagarvey II 4
Sunday
Irish Senior Cup Quarter-finals: Banbridge 3 (E Magee 2, J Moffatt) Three Rock 4 (L Madeley 2, M English, J Hoskings); Lisnagarvey (M Nelson 2, J Bell) Pembroke 1 (H Spain); Cookstown 2 (G Allen, S Smyth) Cork C of I 3 (J Jermyn 3); Kilkeel v Glenanne (walkover)
