Roger Gray impressed in his first outing for UCC. Picture: Adrian Boehm
Bandon and UCC saw some pitch time for the first time in this pre-season at the Mardyke this morning, with the visitors coming away with a 3-2 win in an entertaining if disjointed clash.
The west Cork side played a patient possession game for the first third, and plundered two goals in as many minutes near the end of the opening period of three.
Edgar Rice dragged in the first, with an Andrew Kingston centre going in off a College stick 90 seconds later for 2-0.
But a new-look College side looked solid at the back throughout, with the trio of John and Graham Catchpole and Graham Jeffrey steadying the ship thereafter.
The introduction off the UCC bench of Roger and Andrew Gray livened up the game significantly, while Philip Sweetnam’s aggressive driving from midfield was a constant thorn in the Bandon side as College began to dominate the circle penetrations and corner count.
But with David Smith in the playmaker’s role, Bandon always offered a threat, and they made it three when Fionn O’Leary finished off a tidy counter-attack with a slick reverse-stick finish.
But College pulled one back soon after, Philip Sweetnam ghosting in at the far post to finish off Roger Gray’s centre, before Graham Catchpole tapped in late on after Stephen Sweetnam’s flicked lob from a corner switch struck an upright.
Post Author:
alangood
13 Replies to “Bandon edge out new-look students”
I think that there will be very interesting competition for the 2nd IHL place this season. I can see 3 teams competing very strongly for this place; Harlequins, Bandon & UCC. I can’t see anyone in Munster touching CofI this season & see them winning all league games. From an IHL & ISC point of view it is hard to see any Munster team in with a chance of winning.
i disagree, quins and c.i will battle it out for top spot. but will be interesting between ucc and bandon. c.i 2nds cnt qualify for it but those 3 teams will hav a good battle for 3rd
The under 18 girls team has more or less been announced. The Munster U16 and U 18 boys and the girls U16 have yet to be announced and the tournemanet for all is on the first week-end of October, surely this can only mean that the teams will not have much if any match practice as a team before the tournamenrt?
im sorry but i think you are being a bit unfair with the above statement, there is no way that bandon and ucc will be competing with quins this year and to say that ci will be untouchable is completely untrue, quins and ci will be tight in my opinion.
I agree with the last comment.
It will be close, and I can see UCC upsetting both C of I and Quins.
Neil Welsh is a very sound coach and will really bring UCC on.
The under age teams in Munster always struggle getting any match practice, due to teams being unwilling to give up pitch time or not being available for the times that the under age teams have pitches booked for.
As for naming a squad maybe they cannot due to injury, unavailability of players, who knows. No point in naming the squad until they are sure all the players are available.
I have seen Quins, Bandon and UCC play already this season and I dont think anyone should be making any assumptions about the league table.
All of the teams listed above looked strong and should be getting even stronger. Quins for example competed recently in Dublin and looked good even without star players such as the Lombards and Sean Nicholson.
Anyone who saw Bandon play last year should know that they can be competitive. I was lucky enough to see them play Quins twice around Christmas time and on both occasions it would not have flattered them to get something from the match.
UCC are the wildcard for the season. With so many new players and a new coach they will look and play nothing like last season. One should not use Saturdays game between UCC and Bandon as any sort of indication as both sides were missing a number of players and UCC had about 4 new players making their debut and the team will need another few weeks to gel and find their feet.
I would be surprised if Quins and C of I are the only teams who have a say in who wins the league and who qualifies for next season IHL. I am not suggesting that perhaps Bandon or UCC will break into the top two but I would not be surprised if they took some points off Quins or C of I.
I have not seen Catholic Institute in a while but based on their results last seaon the likes of UCC and Bandon should not right them off as competition, especially in Limerick.
This is gonna be a very interesting season and I for one am excited about watching some games other than Quins v C of I.
I think its a great shame that those who are eligible to play for UCC do not do so. Fair play to those who have already gone, if only more would follow, the standard would be better for CI and Quins with both Bandon and UCC then closing the gap and Munster hockey becoming stronger. Its a shame there are so many short sighted people who think short term gain will help their clubs.
The problem is not players moving to UCC to make the league more competitive, the problem is lack of numbers in good quality coaching in the schools and clubs, is leading to a situation where players are not enthusiastic, or learning the right things. How many quality coaches can we name in Munster? The problem is you need people who are going to stick around and be interested and create a proper network with proper communication flows in the clubs and schools. So that the best talent makes it through to the 1st teams earlier and is nurtured.
For example Garryduff has more female underage players than anyother club in the province, however they are not getting many (1 i can count in last 5 years) players onto national teams (underage or senior), where as on the boys side they have multiple numbers on national teams. There should be much more playing for Ireland from garryduff, waterbase, massive club numbers, best underage club in Ireland last year if i can remember and 1 girl on a national team (last season). And she couldnt even make the 1st team last season, surely thats not great for the club moving forward.
The day of the volunteer coach who wants to help hockey thrive in Munster is gone, only a few cant make a difference really. Instead of trying to get leagues changed and this restriction put in and additional rules for the 1st teams in garryduff and Harlequins, maybe we should look at looking after our own clubs and making them as steamlined and as competitive as possible. The challenge then is for all clubs to achive this.
UCC have done that by offering a job to a new coach who has a good past history both as player and a coach, and they are recruiting players on the strength of that plus the new professional attitude within the club. However players have a choice to either play or not play with UCC if they are a student in the Uni. Many in the past have not as it would have been detrimental to their international aspirations. The challenge for UCC is to get organised, get competitive and then when they are at that level see if they can then be more of an appealing prospect to young players.
For example Clinton Sweetnam moved from bandon to CI, he is a UCC student why did he not consider moving there?
ye are all forgetting about c.i 2nds. they won 4 trophys last season including the irish junior cup. they made pembroke look like school girls. they have only lost the greys 2 ucc and have a couple of more coming in. it wudnt suprise me if they finished 3rd. quins and c.i will be 2 strong this season im afraid. wish i was wrong. they also shud have taken points off quins 1sts last season. tho 2 be honest i think division 2 will be very interesting this season. hopefully with the munster branch promoting ashton from the 3rd division hopefully they can challenge to. it will be a great season though the top 2 will stay the same, c.i and quins 1sts. i also think all munster teams that can enter the irish trophy and irish challange shud do so.
enough bickering anyway, pre season tournament this weekend in the duff. saturday 2 be great crack.
clinton sweetnam joined c.i because he wants 2 play at the highest level. he has made an irish training panel and playing the irish senior cup and the ihl will gain him more experience. if he went 2 ucc the most he cud get is the irish trophy. no disrespect 2 any teams in that competition. plus its his choice at the end of the day. and of course training with the best players week in week out
1. Limerick HC and Ashton HC are by far the biggest underage girls’ clubs in the province. Quins, Catholic Institute and CI are around the same size.
2.. The past problems with our underage systems in the province was widespread but I would point out that the majority of clubs now have very good structures in place to deal with both the participation and performance sides of underage hockey and excellent volunteer structures to make sure the kids are getting good coaching.
3. The quality of the coaching within the province is also improving all of the time – there were more qualified coaches doing Level 1 and 2 this year than in previous years and the Munster Coaching Committee is doing great work with their conferences and the Munster Cheetahs U15 development groups. This will have a knock on effect and create more quality players, but it is not a quick solution, it takes time.
i play for harlequins and they are the best !!!!!really there class!!!!
Agree with Phil’s comment above, it’s important to put a good structure in place and develop from primary school up. That is the only sustainable way forward although it takes many years to bear fruit!
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I think that there will be very interesting competition for the 2nd IHL place this season. I can see 3 teams competing very strongly for this place; Harlequins, Bandon & UCC. I can’t see anyone in Munster touching CofI this season & see them winning all league games. From an IHL & ISC point of view it is hard to see any Munster team in with a chance of winning.
i disagree, quins and c.i will battle it out for top spot. but will be interesting between ucc and bandon. c.i 2nds cnt qualify for it but those 3 teams will hav a good battle for 3rd
The under 18 girls team has more or less been announced. The Munster U16 and U 18 boys and the girls U16 have yet to be announced and the tournemanet for all is on the first week-end of October, surely this can only mean that the teams will not have much if any match practice as a team before the tournamenrt?
im sorry but i think you are being a bit unfair with the above statement, there is no way that bandon and ucc will be competing with quins this year and to say that ci will be untouchable is completely untrue, quins and ci will be tight in my opinion.
I agree with the last comment.
It will be close, and I can see UCC upsetting both C of I and Quins.
Neil Welsh is a very sound coach and will really bring UCC on.
The under age teams in Munster always struggle getting any match practice, due to teams being unwilling to give up pitch time or not being available for the times that the under age teams have pitches booked for.
As for naming a squad maybe they cannot due to injury, unavailability of players, who knows. No point in naming the squad until they are sure all the players are available.
I have seen Quins, Bandon and UCC play already this season and I dont think anyone should be making any assumptions about the league table.
All of the teams listed above looked strong and should be getting even stronger. Quins for example competed recently in Dublin and looked good even without star players such as the Lombards and Sean Nicholson.
Anyone who saw Bandon play last year should know that they can be competitive. I was lucky enough to see them play Quins twice around Christmas time and on both occasions it would not have flattered them to get something from the match.
UCC are the wildcard for the season. With so many new players and a new coach they will look and play nothing like last season. One should not use Saturdays game between UCC and Bandon as any sort of indication as both sides were missing a number of players and UCC had about 4 new players making their debut and the team will need another few weeks to gel and find their feet.
I would be surprised if Quins and C of I are the only teams who have a say in who wins the league and who qualifies for next season IHL. I am not suggesting that perhaps Bandon or UCC will break into the top two but I would not be surprised if they took some points off Quins or C of I.
I have not seen Catholic Institute in a while but based on their results last seaon the likes of UCC and Bandon should not right them off as competition, especially in Limerick.
This is gonna be a very interesting season and I for one am excited about watching some games other than Quins v C of I.
I think its a great shame that those who are eligible to play for UCC do not do so. Fair play to those who have already gone, if only more would follow, the standard would be better for CI and Quins with both Bandon and UCC then closing the gap and Munster hockey becoming stronger. Its a shame there are so many short sighted people who think short term gain will help their clubs.
The problem is not players moving to UCC to make the league more competitive, the problem is lack of numbers in good quality coaching in the schools and clubs, is leading to a situation where players are not enthusiastic, or learning the right things. How many quality coaches can we name in Munster? The problem is you need people who are going to stick around and be interested and create a proper network with proper communication flows in the clubs and schools. So that the best talent makes it through to the 1st teams earlier and is nurtured.
For example Garryduff has more female underage players than anyother club in the province, however they are not getting many (1 i can count in last 5 years) players onto national teams (underage or senior), where as on the boys side they have multiple numbers on national teams. There should be much more playing for Ireland from garryduff, waterbase, massive club numbers, best underage club in Ireland last year if i can remember and 1 girl on a national team (last season). And she couldnt even make the 1st team last season, surely thats not great for the club moving forward.
The day of the volunteer coach who wants to help hockey thrive in Munster is gone, only a few cant make a difference really. Instead of trying to get leagues changed and this restriction put in and additional rules for the 1st teams in garryduff and Harlequins, maybe we should look at looking after our own clubs and making them as steamlined and as competitive as possible. The challenge then is for all clubs to achive this.
UCC have done that by offering a job to a new coach who has a good past history both as player and a coach, and they are recruiting players on the strength of that plus the new professional attitude within the club. However players have a choice to either play or not play with UCC if they are a student in the Uni. Many in the past have not as it would have been detrimental to their international aspirations. The challenge for UCC is to get organised, get competitive and then when they are at that level see if they can then be more of an appealing prospect to young players.
For example Clinton Sweetnam moved from bandon to CI, he is a UCC student why did he not consider moving there?
ye are all forgetting about c.i 2nds. they won 4 trophys last season including the irish junior cup. they made pembroke look like school girls. they have only lost the greys 2 ucc and have a couple of more coming in. it wudnt suprise me if they finished 3rd. quins and c.i will be 2 strong this season im afraid. wish i was wrong. they also shud have taken points off quins 1sts last season. tho 2 be honest i think division 2 will be very interesting this season. hopefully with the munster branch promoting ashton from the 3rd division hopefully they can challenge to. it will be a great season though the top 2 will stay the same, c.i and quins 1sts. i also think all munster teams that can enter the irish trophy and irish challange shud do so.
enough bickering anyway, pre season tournament this weekend in the duff. saturday 2 be great crack.
clinton sweetnam joined c.i because he wants 2 play at the highest level. he has made an irish training panel and playing the irish senior cup and the ihl will gain him more experience. if he went 2 ucc the most he cud get is the irish trophy. no disrespect 2 any teams in that competition. plus its his choice at the end of the day. and of course training with the best players week in week out
In reply to hockey@hotmail.com:
1. Limerick HC and Ashton HC are by far the biggest underage girls’ clubs in the province. Quins, Catholic Institute and CI are around the same size.
2.. The past problems with our underage systems in the province was widespread but I would point out that the majority of clubs now have very good structures in place to deal with both the participation and performance sides of underage hockey and excellent volunteer structures to make sure the kids are getting good coaching.
3. The quality of the coaching within the province is also improving all of the time – there were more qualified coaches doing Level 1 and 2 this year than in previous years and the Munster Coaching Committee is doing great work with their conferences and the Munster Cheetahs U15 development groups. This will have a knock on effect and create more quality players, but it is not a quick solution, it takes time.
i play for harlequins and they are the best !!!!!really there class!!!!
Agree with Phil’s comment above, it’s important to put a good structure in place and develop from primary school up. That is the only sustainable way forward although it takes many years to bear fruit!