Bann boys help book place in Kirk Cup decider
THERE has been much talk about Lisnagarvey’s young guns this season but it was two of Banbridge’s teenage talents that sent the Havelock Park side through to the Boxing Day Kirk Cup final.
Garvey had led for much of yesterday’s semi-final at Shaw’s Bridge after Troy Chambers struck early but teenagers Eddie Rowe and Mark Barlow turned the tables inside a three minute spell.
Josh Moffatt added a third and Timmy Cockram’s last-minute effort for Garvey came too late to save the Blues.
Bann now await the winners of the delayed second semi-final between Cookstown and Annadale, which had been postponed due to a bereavement.
Both teams were missing a handful of regulars yesterday, with names like Daniel Nelson, Richard Arneill and James Lorimer not on the Garvey team sheet and Bruce McCandless and Hugh McShane absent from Bann.
But it was Garvey who started the better and were rewarded when Chambers flicked home in the eighth minute. Bann had the better chances but Barlow, Ross Beattie and Alex Tinney all had efforts blocked as Garvey defended superbly.
The second half proved much the same, with Zach McClelland coming close beforeUlster u18 starlet Eddie Rowe levelled from a penalty corner in the 54th minute.
Within three minutes Barlow swept in a second after a marvellous run from Johnny McKee and Moffatt made it three from another lovely move.
Cockram slipped one home from close range in the final minute but it came too late to force a shoot-out, and so their rivals take their place in the Boxing Day final.
Meanwhile, in the EY Irish Hockey League, Pembroke Wanderers are earning a name for themselves as the comeback kings after coming back from the dead two weeks on the trot.
Last week they bounced back from a two goal deficit to beat Cooktown 3-2 and on Saturday they came from three goals down to pip bottom team Dublin YMCA 4-3.
The result was good news for Cookstown who remain out of the bottom two but bad news for Banbridge as Pembroke join them and Glenanne at the top on 15 points.
Glenanne were involved in the Irish Senior Cup 3rd round and had a comfortable 3-0 success over Monkstown in the Dublin derby.
Mossley and Instonians were the big winners in the Ulster Premier League, as they kept the pressure on champions Kilkeel who had no game.
Two goals each from Simon Todd and Jordan Robinson eased the Newtownabbey lads to a 5-1 success at Civil Service as they took over at the top of the table, albeit with more games played.
And Inst bounced back from last week’s defeat against Mossley to end Bangor’s unbeaten league run, William Robinson, Gavin Leckey and Stephen Kelso all scoring from set-piece situations.
Johnny Moore struck twice in North Down’s 4-1 win against Belfast Harlequins, South Antrim held out for a 3-2 win over Portadown and Raphoe edged further away from the bottom with a two goal win against Queen’s.
Finally, the Ireland men, with eight from Ulster in their ranks, face the Netherlands in Amsterdam this evening (6pm) in their final build-up game before heading out to India for the World Cup finals which starts in nine days. EY Irish Hockey League: Pembroke Wanderers 4 (K O’Hare 2, T Hill, P Shanahan, J Ryan) Dublin YMCA 3 (G Glutz 2, B Campbell)
Irish Senior Cup 3rd round: Monkstown 0 Glenanne 3 (S Boucher, S O’Connor, E O’Malley)
Kirk Cup semi-final: Banbridge 3 (E Rowe, M Barlow, J Moffatt) Lisnagarvey 2 (T Chambers, T Cockram)
Ulster Premier League: Instonians 3 (W Robinson, G Leckey, S Kelso) Bangor 0; Civil Service 1 Mossley 5 (S Todd 2, J Robinson 2, R Lyall); North Down 4 (J Moore 2, J Gilmore, G McKeown) Belfast Harlequins 1 (L McClelland); South Antrim 3 (P Maguire, C Henry, J Brown) Portadown 2 (S Johnston, M Winter); Raphoe 2 (J Watt, J Devenny)
Linden Cup: Antrim 5 Ballynahinch 1; Saintfield 1 PSNI 3; Armagh 1 Portrush 2; CI 4 Down 1