Burgess can’t wait for Bann test in Boxing Day decider
ANNADALE are through to the Kirk Cup final, where they will meet Banbridge in the Boxing Day showpiece.
The Dale came from behind to beat fellow Irish Hockey League team Cookstown 3-2 in yesterday’s delayed second semi-final staged at Stormont Playball, thanks to a superb deflected goal from Rory Capper.
This will be Dale’s third final appearance in six years, having won those previous encounters in 2013 and 2016, and they just about deserved the success over a battling Tyrone team this time.
It was Peter Corrie who gave them an early lead when he found the bottom corner after good work from Peter Caruth, although there were shouts for a foot in the circle, but Stuart Smyth had levelled matters within six minutes with a penalty corner drag flick.
Smyth then repeated the act to give Cookstown the lead four minutes into the second half but Annadale came roaring back and Ryan Burgess squared matters when he too converted a penalty corner.
But any chance of the game going beyond the 70 minutes was ended when Capper popped up to deflect in a crash ball from Paddy Crookshanks 11 minutes from time, a goal that proved to be the winner.
Annadale captain Burgess said: “Even though we were 2-1 down, we always felt confident of going through.
“We can now look forward to facing Banbridge in the final, and that will be a big step up for me after playing in the second-tier Linden Cup final last year with Bangor.”
Meanwhile, Ulster Premier champions Kilkeel suffered their first league defeat of the season on Saturday when they crashed 4-1 at South Antrim where Adam Glass knocked in a hat-trick.
Instonians are now the new leaders following their 2-1 success at Raphoe where leading scorer Stephen Kelso grabbed both goals.
And Bangor are back in the frame too after Chris Campbell scored twice in their 4-1 win at Civil Service.
In fact there are as many as five involved in the title race, with that South Antrim win taking them into the equation while Mossley are right in it too despite having no game at the weekend.
Even North Down could be in with a shout, especially after their goalfest against Portadown, Josh Gilmore knocking in a hattrick in a 6-5 win at Comber.
Finally, we now know the lineup for the crossover games at the World Cup finals in Bhubaneswar following the weekend’s programme.
The big one is England’s game against New Zealand this morning (11.30am) and if Danny Kerry’s team — who have three Ulstermen in their line-up — come through successfully, they will meet Olympic champions Argentina for a place in the semi-finals later in the week.
Belgium and the Netherlands also ended up in the crossovers, after India and Germany won their pools, and will take on Pakistan and Canada respectively tomorrow.
Eliminated over the weekend were South Africa and Malaysia who now join Spain and Ireland on early flights home.