Five-star Rovers dump C of I out

Cork Church of Ireland’s IHL dreams were left in tatters as three goals inside the first 11 minutes helped Three Rock Rovers on their way to a 5-2 win at Grange Road. With Banbridge getting a bonus point in their 6-1 defeat of Monkstown, it amazingly left C of I out of the top two for the first time all season, having gone into their final showdown with a one-point lead at the summit of Pool B. Garry Ringwood dispatched a contentious fourth-minute penalty stroke to put Rovers in front, before C of I keeper Mark Ruddle left a Mitch Darling effort creep between his legs three minutes later.

Peter Blakeney added a third on 11 minutes to put C of I on the rack, and Stephen Jackson’s side never really recovered as Neil Lyons and Ali Haughton were both in dominant form for Rovers. Furthermore, John Jermyn was stifled on the right by recent Irish cap Michael Maguire, and indeed got so little change out of him that he was moved to the left wing inside half an hour. A farcical situation erupted on 27 minutes when Rovers’ Andy McConnell was green-carded, only to see that upgraded to yellow after he went back on after failing to serve the full two minutes, the player apparently under the impression from the technical bench that he could resume playing. A shell-shocked C of I were beginning to find their feet by that time, and indeed forced nine short corners in total. But their push-out inexplicably let them down time and time again, as they largely failed to trouble Charlie Henderson in the Rovers goal. Kyle Good found Blakeney on the back post to make it four on 60 minutes, and with word filtering into Grange Road that Bann had gone goal crazy against Monkstown, C of I were forced to go into kamikaze mode in the final minutes. Jermyn gave them hope when he pulled one back with a low drag on 62 minutes, but Good hit Rovers’ fifth after a neat exchange with Darling as C of I left gaps at the back to all but quash their hopes. Jermyn’s improvised short corner strike in the dying seconds will have been of little consolation. . Continuing a good day for Leinster sides, Pembroke Wanderers trashed Annadale 5-1, getting the bonus-point win they needed to progress thanks to a stunning Alan Sothern hat-trick, while Glenanne saw off Cookstown 5-2 to top the pool.

William Robinson produced one of the goals of the tournament so far to allow Instonians to nick an unlikely 4-4 draw in their dead rubber at Harlequin Park. A two-goal blast from Quins skipper Paul Lombard had looked set to give his side their first win of the tournament, until Inst were awarded a contentious 65th-minute penalty stroke. Umpire Alastair Shute ruled that Quins keeper Chris Daunt had prevented an Inst forward from striking the ball off a short corner breakdown, a seemingly harsh decision that caused consternation in the Quins camp. Robinson duly dispatched the stroke, before he found the top corner with a blinding reverse-stick shot at the top of the circle three minutes later to allow Inst to salvage a draw. The Belfast side travelled to Cork without drag-flick expert Mark Gleghorne – indeed, they only had 11 players in total and remarkably lasted the pace fitness-wise. They twice had to come from two goals down to do so. Lee d’Alton fired home Rob Hobbs’ centre after eight minutes to put Quins in front, before Phil O’Driscoll popped up at the back post to touch in Paul Murray’s crash two minutes later. But Inst hit back through a Steven Redpath deflection on 25 minutes, and were level 60 seconds later thanks to Chris Kirk, who beat two players along the endline before flicking the ball over Daunt.

Jason Black thought he’d put Quins back in front on 54 minutes, only for the goal to be chalked off for what seemed to be obstruction. But Lombard rocketed a shot past Nigel Skillen from the top of the circle five minutes later to nose Quins ahead 3-2. Lombard then took full advantage of Julian Lewis’ 65th minute defensive error, finding the bottom corner with a reverse of pin-point accuracy, but Robinson’s late show earned Inst a share of the spoils.