Bann exact Quins revenge

Men’s Irish Senior Cup quarter-finals Cork Harlequins 0 Banbridge 2 (Simon Magowan, Stephen Dowds) Cork Harlequins’ Irish Senior Cup defence is over after Banbridge caught them napping early on to seal a satisfying win for the Down men, having been beaten here at this stage of the competition last season. Philip Brown and Josh Moffett gave Simon Magowan a first minute tap-in and with both sides retreating to half-court presses, it made for a cagey affair thereafter.

Stephen Dowds blocked down a Quins corner at one end then dragged home one at the other to give Phil Oakley’s side a mountain to climb. The hosts turned the screw late in the game with Gareth Lennox doing well to get a boot to David Eakins’ drag after he was initially wrong-footed, and Bann weathered three Quins corners to eke out the result. ISC quarter-finals round-up: Joining Banbridge at March’s finals weekend will be Monkstown, who accounted for Railway Union 4-2. Gareth Watkins turned the game after the ’Town found themselves 2-1 down in the first half, scoring one and setting up Andrew Ward for another. Pembroke Wanderers edged the other Dublin derby 2-1 against YMCA;  Richard Pedreschi cancelled out Mick O’Connor’s opener for Pembroke but Alan Sothern settled it from the penalty spot. Three Rock Rovers made it three Leinster sides in the semi-finals as they squeaked past Kilkeel 5-3, Peter Blakeney’s hat-trick bringing his tally to eight in two ISC games. Irish Senior Cup quarter-finals: Cork Harlequins 0 Banbridge 2 (S Magowan, S Dowds); YMCA 1 (R Pedrechi) Pembroke Wanderers 2 (M O’Connor, A Sothern); Three Rock Rovers 5 (P Blakeney 3, A Haughton, S Madeley) Kilkeel 3 (J Aiken 2, W Annett); Monkstown 4 (S Cole, R O’Moore, G Watkins, A Ward) Railway Union 2 (F Maher, S Pearson). Munster Div 1 UCC 4 (Andrew Gray, Peter Catchpole, Greg Chambers, Andrew Scannell) Cork C of I B 3 (Philip Smith, David Doherty, Simon Wolfe) UCC were pushed to the pin of their collar by a strong C of I B outfit, the Mardyke students prevailing 4-3 in a game that saw five of the seven goalscorers netting against their former club. Andy Gray’s pinpoint mid-height drag got the hosts on the board early on but that was cancelled out from the flick spot by Philip Smith, who emphatically dispatched his stroke after Brian Corcoran had felled Simon Wolfe as the Ireland U16 man cut back inside from an endline raid.

C of I came close to scoring the goal of the season midway through the half. Off a defensive corner, they worked the ball brilliantly up the pitch via three first-time passes, only for Wolfe to also first-time his effort wide when stealing in at the back post. Peter Catchpole and Greg Chambers finished from close range to give College a more comfortable advantage but David Doherty pulled another one back before Andrew Scannell dispatched a drag of his own to bring a breathless first half to an end. The second period was somewhat cagier with Wolfe setting up a tense last quarter when he battered home a switched short corner. C of I, bidding to take points off their firsts’ title rivals, couldn’t find an equaliser though and Neil Welch’s side took the spoils. Cork Harlequins B 1 (David Mills) Bandon 1 (Rob Smith) Bandon picked up their first points of the new campaign with this draw away to Quins B, but will have been disappointed not to leave with all three points. David Mills, recently returned from Australia, scored a virtuoso solo goal, riding three tackles en route from halfway before slotting home, but that was cancelled out by Rob Smith. Bandon had plenty of chances to win the game; Aaron Beamish ballooned over with a close-range drag while Fred McElroy saw a penalty stroke saved, but they’ll nonetheless be glad to have stopped the rot.