Munster sides slide down IHL ranks

Saturday is ‘moving day’ for the Masters at Augusta but this was ‘moving weekend’ in the Irish Hockey League with several sides making big statements of intent. The second and third rounds of the newly condensed competition were completed on consecutive days, with Munster teams ultimately the biggest losers. Cork C of I’s hopes of making the last four have probably suffered terminal blows after a rough weekend in Ulster. A second-quarter collapse saw them hammered 7-1 by Banbridge before Lisnagarvey’s goal led a charmed life in a 1-0 win over the unlucky Garryduff men in front of watching Ireland coach Andrew Meredith.

Bann followed up with a 5-2 4-1 defeat of YMCA to take control of Pool B as the only side with three wins from three. Monkstown have a similarly high stock in Pool A, comfortably beating Instonians 3-0 on Saturday before being given a rough ride by Cork Harlequins on Sunday, scoring twice late on to win 4-1. Having conceded six in hammering by Cookstown and C of I in recent weeks, Phil Oakley’s men were much improved this weekend and pushed Pembroke hard before losing 4-2 on Saturday. Munster U16 starlet Julian Dale has been working his way back to first-team hockey after a serious knee injury and he celebrated his return with fine individual goals in each game. Ultimately though, their injury-ravaged squad is short on depth and they will be fighting to avoid the wooden spoon in their pool. Cookstown are tied for top spot with Monkstown after dispatching Annadale (2-1) and Instonians (7-3). Catholic Institute and Cork Harlequins’ women both endured miserable weekends in Dublin as their qualification hopes were left hanging by a thread. Two early goals did the damage for Ards in their 2-1 win over Quins. Acacia Taylor’s deflection did claim a bonus point for Quins there but they had no such luck against a rampant UCD, who ran out 4-0 winners with Irish international striker Nikki Evans on target twice. Their pool has no clear contender however, with UCD and Ards locked on nine points while Quins have five, so the Leesiders could still rally to make the top two. Institute had to deal with the other two best sides in Ireland — aside from UCD — in less than 24 hours, going down 3-0 to Railway Union before succumbing 5-2 to Loreto.

Former Irish captain Eimear Cregan played no part against Railway but did strike twice with solo goals to keep them in touch against Loreto. The Beaufort girls hold the balance of power in Pool A with a perfect three wins from three. The domestic top flight came to a close in Munster without too much incident. UCC confirmed third place with wins over Bandon (2-0) and an under-strength Limerick (6-0) while Cork C of I weathered an Ashton comback from three goals down to win 3-2. Fermoy finished their season on a high, overturning a 3-1 deficit against UL to draw 4-4 and deny the Limerick students their first win of the campaign. Irish Hockey League Rd 2 and 3 Men’s Pool A: Pembroke 4 (A Sothern 3, M Loughrey) Cork Harlequins 2 (D Eakins, J Dale), Instonians 0 Monkstown 3 (A Ward 2, A Ewington), Cookstown 2 (A Barbour, G Allen) Annadale 1 (W Edgar), Monkstown 4 (K Good, S Cole, S Nolan, D Carson) Cork Harlequins 1 (J Dale), Annadale 3 (C Heath, W Edgar, A Williamson) Pembroke Wanderers 2 (A Sothern 2), Cookstown 7 Instonians 3; Standings: 1 Monkstown 12pts (+11), 2 Cookstown 12 (+10), 3 Annadale 6 (-1), 4 Pembroke 5 (-4), 5 Instonians 4 (-6), 6 Cork Harlequins 0 (-10); Pool B: Banbridge 7 (S Dowds 2, M Bell, B McCandless, D Ward, J Moffett, S Carson) Cork C of I 1 (S Wolfe), Railway Union 2 (E McArthur, P English) Lisnagarvey 5 (J Quigley 2, J Lorimer, D Buser, own goal), Glenanne 1 (S Brownlow) YMCA 0, Lisnagarvey 1 (J Lorimer) Cork C of I 0, YMCA 2 (K Makowski 2) Banbridge 5 (S Dowds 3, D Ward, B McCandless), Glenanne 0 Railway Union 3; Standings: 1 Banbridge 12pts (+10), 2 Lisnagarvey 9s (+3), 3 Cork C of I 5 (-4), 4 YMCA 5 (-2), 5 Railway Union 4s (-2), 6 Glenanne 4 (-5). Women’s Pool A: Hermes 2 (A O’Flynn, L Jacob) Loreto 3 (N Small 2, N Keegan), Railway Union 3 (C Joyce, own goal, J McDonnell) Catholic Institute 0, Ulster Elks 0 Pegasus 1 (V Surgeoner), Loreto 5 (N Small 2, H Matthews, C McKean, N Keegan) Catholic Institute 2 (E Cregan 2), Pegasus 0 Railway Union 1 (S Dooley), Hermes 6 (L Jacob 3, J O’Brien, J Kinch, A O’Flynn) Ulster Elks 0, Ballymoney 1 (B Cleland) Ards 0; Standings: 1 Loreto 12pts (+6), 2 Pegasus 9 (+3), 3 Railway Union 8 (+2), 4 Hermes 5 (+2), 5 Catholic Institute 4 (-4), 6 Ulster Elks 1 (-9); Pool B: Ballymoney 3 (N Parke 2, J Lynch) Lurgan 5 (L McKee 2, P Joyce, J-A Wilson, C McCann), UCD 4 (N Evans 2, N Atcheler, A O’Flanagan) Old Alex 1 (L Kingston), Cork Harlequins 1 (A Taylor) Ards 2 (S Alexander, C Brown), UCD 4 (N Evans 2, J Deacon, C Hill) Cork Harlequins 0, Old Alex 3 (S McCay 2, M O’Donnell) Lurgan 1 (C Hull); Standings: 1 UCD 9pts (+6), 2 Ards 9 (+1), 3 Ballymoney 8 (+2), 4 Lurgan 5 (-1), 5 Cork Harlequins 5 (-4), 6 Old Alex 4 (-4). Munster Div 1: Bandon 0 UCC 2 (R O’Hanlon, O Roycroft), Fermoy 4 UL 4, Cork C of I 3 (A Roberts, J Barry, P Wolfe) Ashton 2, UCC 6 Limerick 0. Irish Hockey Trophy finals Men: Portadown 4 Kilkenny 1; Women: Greenfields 0 Lisnagarvey 0 (aet, Greenfields win on penalty strokes).