Quins fail to show Corinthian spirit

Cork Harlequins are already facing an uphill battle to make an impression in the men’s Irish Hockey League, after Corinthians made it a tournament debut to remember with a 2-0 win at Garryduff today. Ceding home comforts due to flooding did Quins few favours, and they never got into their stride against an accomplished side who were impregnable at the back and were content to use their blinding pace on the counter-attack. South African Darren Kimfley got them off to a wonderful start inside two minutes, taking Davy Carson’s pass from the left before rifling home high over the advancing Quins keeper Reinout Mensink. Carson augmented that lead on 23 minutes, mugging Paul Murray on the left before surging into the circle and beating the Dutchman at his near post. Despite some consistently brilliant trickery from Paul Lombard, Quins found clear openings hard to come by, and hardly helped themselves by giving up possession far too cheaply. They rarely threatened the Corinthian goal despite monopolising possession in the second half, and a late yellow card for David Lombard just about summed up their day. Instonians have stolen a march in Pool A, by virtue of their 4-1, bonus point rout of Monkstown. Set-piece specialist William Robinson netted inside two minutes while Stuart McWilliams made it 2-0 in the ninth from a second short-corner.

Gareth Watkins was a threat from play and drew two excellent saves from Nigel Skillen but the game was as good as killed when Chris Kirk slotted in a third goal in the 28th minute after racing in from the left wing. He added his personal second in the 48th minute to copper-fasten the bonus point before Andrew Ward got a consolation goal a minute from time. In the late game, drag-flicks from Alan Sothern and Conor Harte gave holders Pembroke Wanderers a valuable opening-day 2-1 win at Banbridge. In Pool B, Cork C of I lived to regret sitting on a lead as Peter Blakeney’s double helped Three Rock Rovers fought back to earn a 2-2 draw. While Stephen Jackson’s men would gladly have taken two points beforehand – with three home games on the spin to come next – they will know they should have left with all three. John Jermyn’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it drag-flick put them in front on 12 minutes, before Nick Burns deflected home a second a couple of minutes after half-time. But rather than go for the jugular, C of I sat back and invited their hosts to attack. Pieter Steins-Bisschop drew the save of the day from Billy Lynch, who leapt off the ground from an initial block to palm a rising reverse over the bar. But Rovers earned a lifeline when Blakeney tapped in with 12 minutes to go, and finally found an equaliser with 20 seconds to go. Sven Galjaardt had been a constant threat without ever finding a final ball, but he produced just that from the endline for Blakeney to squeeze the ball under Lynch.

Elsewhere, Cookstown caused the shock of the first round when they claimed a remarkable 3-2 win away to last year’s runners-up Glenanne. It was the Ulster champions’ first victory over Glens in six attempts, with goalkeeper Ian Hughes’ heroics – which kept out seven of eight corners – vital to their win. Timmy Smyth’s remarkable 70-metre sole run and finish put the visitors in front at St Mark’s, before Colin Donaldson’s corner strike doubled the advantage. Eddie O’Malley pulled one back for Glens – revealing a fetching ‘Fox in the Box’ T-shirt to doff his cap to the Facebook group set up in his honour – before Shane O’Donoghue’s swtich-flick levelled matters. Glens had a stroke decision down-graded to a corner, which went begging, before Sloan popped up with the winner for Cookstown. It’s Lisnagarvey who lead the way after round one though, thanks to an impressive 4-2 win over Annadale at Lough Moss. Ian Hamilton’s drag-flick double kept the ‘Dale in it, but Garvey had too much class all round, with Mark Raphael’s corner rebound, Timmy Cockram’s bullet reverse and a Greg Thompson double doing the damage.