Avoca suffer C of I backlash

Leinster outfit Avoca felt the full force of a Cork Church of Ireland backlash at a pre-season tournament in Garryduff tonight, going down 8-0. The hosts had surprisingly been held to a 2-2 draw by Railway Union on Friday night, and coach Stephen Jackson sent out a near full-strength side in search of a response, which duly arrived in spectacular fashion.

A fired-up C of I were 4-0 to the good inside 20 minutes, with Jonny Bruton terrorising the Avoca defence at will and firing home a spectacular effort for his side’s second. The home side, who fielded Irish internationals Dave Hobbs, Karl Burns and Adam Pritchard, eased off somewhat after the break, but still managed a few exhibition-style strikes, with Burns grabbing the pick of the bunch. However, it was Bandon who provided the best entertainment value at Garryduff, playing out seven-goal thrillers against Railway and Avoca. Graham Kingston’s double helped them to race into a 3-0 lead inside 17 minutes against Avoca, but they had to fend off a spirited comeback before Kingston completed his hat-trick to secure a 4-3 win. The goals also came freely in Bandon’s clash with Railway, but despite decent showings from Alastair Smith and Clinton Sweetnam, they couldn’t recover from 3-1 down, eventually losing 4-3. In the women’s tournament, Cork native Caroline Murphy made a rare appearance on home turf as she helped her Trinity side to a 2-0 win over an experimental C of I outfit. Meanwhile, controversy engulfed the opening day of the Leinster season, with Pembroke Wanderers failing to turn up for their Neville Cup clash with Monkstown. Pembroke, who are at a pre-season tournament in Surbiton in England, were unsuccessful with a late postponement appeal, but with Monkstown unable to fulfil a midweek fixture, the Leinster Branch now face a fixture headache.

There were further ructions at Grange Road, where Three Rock Rovers’ Venezuelan international Lucas Piccioli was unable to face his former club Corinthians due to registration problems. Three Rock, who included former Bandon man Patrick Shanahan in their side, won 6-1 with sharpshooters Mitch Darling and Peter Blakeney sharing five goals.