Butler denies bad blood after testy clash

Stephen Butler insists there is no bad blood between his Glenanne outfit and Cork Harlequins, despite the sides adding another bad-tempered chapter to an ongoing rivalry on Saturday. A late purple patch saw Glens pick up a bonus point with a 4-1 win at Harlequin Park that leaves Quins’ hopes of making the last four of the Irish Hockey League already in jeopardy. But it was the frayed tempers that captivated the attention of a disappointingly small crowd, with umpire Chris McConkey bearing the brunt of some harsh verbals from Graham Shaw, while Quins’ David Lombard squared up to Glenanne coach Arul Anthoni late on.

Amazingly, just two green cards were shown as the umpires displayed admirable restraint, but the final hooter didn’t bring any easing of the tensions, with both lodging formal complaints with the technical bench. However, Butler — Ireland’s most capped current player and all-time top goalscorer — insisted there is no ongoing niggle between the sides, despite the fractious nature of their past three encounters. “It’s purely down to the fact that both teams are so competitive,” he said. “I know that when we come off the pitch, we’ll go inside and we’ll all be buddies. That’s the way I think the game should be played. “It’s always tough coming down here but we always enjoy it, they’re a very similar side to us. We put in a good performance; it was on the rocks for a while but we took our chances and worked really hard, which is something we [weren’t doing] at the start of the season.” Butler’s low drag from a short corner saw Glens hit the front after 11 minutes, only for Dan Hobbs to cancel it out with an identical score 11 minutes later. Quins sorely missed Richard Gash and the suspended Paul Lombard up front, and failed to create any clear-cut chances, despite having an even share of possession. Time and time again, Mark Black in particular ran into blind alleyways, without The closest they came was on 30 minutes, when Sean Nicholson fed Geert Fromme, but his powerful drive was deflected over the top. Glens proved far better at getting to the endline to create chances from play, but the final ball invariably left them down until a 15-minute purple patch late on saw them claim the win that puts them in the driving seat of Pool A. First, Butler roofed a drag on 52 minutes, before Enda Tucker potted the ball home three minutes later after Chris Daunt had superbly knocked saved another Butler short corner effort onto the post.

And Gary Shaw claimed the only goal from play with four minutes to go, slotting a reverse under Daunt after a long ball from the left had evaded the Quins cover. Elsewhere, the cold snap played havoc with astroturf pitches around the country, with both other games in Pool A — Instonians’ clash with Pembroke and the Ulster derby between Annadale and Cookstown — abandoned due to frost and ice. The same fate befell Monkstown’s clash with Lisnagarvey and Fingal’s meeting with Three Rock Rovers in Pool B, though Banbridge’s game with Cork Church of Ireland went ahead despite freezing fog and sub-zero temperatures at Havelock Park. The hosts put a serious dent in C of I’s hopes of progression thereafter, coming from behind to win 2-1. Stephen Parker’s deft touch gave C of I a 16th-minute lead as they dominated the opening quarter, and returning keeper Mark Ruddle kept out Ross McCandless’ drag to keep them in front at half-time. But Richie Dorman’s sin-binning on 40 minutes handed the initiative to Bann, who equalised just a minute later when Stephen Dowds hammered home a loose ball, before McCandless hit the winner with a drag to the top-left corner. John Jermyn had just one opportunity to put his superb drag-flicking technique to good use with five minutes to go, but Gareth Lennox saved superbly, and there was still time for Dowds to miss a gilt-edged chances before the hooter. Four of the six games survived the weather in the women’s IHL, with Belfast Harlequins’ 5-1 rout of Cork C of I in Pool A providing the biggest surprise of the day. The northererners had leaked five goals on the opening day at Loreto bcut they cut loose in the final quarter to win handsomely after C of I’s Julie O’Sullivan had cancelled out Kellie Thornton’s opener. Thornton went on to complete a hat-trick in the final minutes, with Clare Coey grabbing a double to delight the Deramore crowd. However, Cork Harlequins made sure the weekend wasn’t a total wipe-out for Munster sides, with Karen Bateman getting the only goal in a poor clash with Pembroke Wanderers in Pool B. Quins had trouble with their short corner routines all day, but Bateman made her 27th-minute effort count with the aid of a wicked deflection that saw the ball sail high over the stranded Jane Coyne. Coyne saved well from Bateman and Rachael Kohler to ensure the Dubliners left with a bonus point, though it could have been more had Emily MacNicholas not shot wide when clean through on Quins netminder Amy O’Neill late in the second half.

Elsewhere, converted midfielder Cecilia Joyce hit a hat-trick of deflections in a virtuoso forward’s display as Railway Union bounced back from a heartbreaking defeat to Pegasus last time out to rout Randalstown 6-2 at Park Avenue. Meanwhile, late goals from Jenny Kinch and Gillian Pinder gave Hermes the sole 100% record in the women’s tournament with a 2-0 win at Armagh. Domestically, it was a good day for Leinster side Old Alex, who firstly gate-crashed the top four with a 2-1 win over UCD, then confirmed the signing of South African international Leslie Ann George. The 23-year-old, who already has almost a century of caps to her name, will link up with coach Arul Anthoni, who she worked under at the SA hockey academy, on a three-month deal while she is on summer break from university. In Munster, the majority of fixtures fell victim to the weather, with just seven women’s games surviving the frost. A double from Kym Daly helped Catholic Institute to a 3-1 win over UL in the Examiner Cup, while in Division Two, Ashton and Cork Harlequins recorded their second wins of the season courtesy of 4-1 wins over Moyne/Thurles and UCC respectively.