Pembroke make Glens pay the penalty

Irish hockey got its first glimpse of a new penalty shootout format as Loreto and Pembroke Wanderers claimed the inaugural women’s and men’s Irish Hockey League titles at Grange Road yesterday. Both finals went the distance, with the new format — where players have eight seconds to score in a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper, starting from the 23m line, rather than taking a penalty stroke — creating plenty of talking points. After the men’s final had finished in a 2-2 stalemate, confusion reigned when Glenanne’s Stephen Butler saw his opening penalty saved by Pembroke’s David Harte. Although the time limit had yet to elapse, Butler appeared unaware that he could pick up the rebound and didn’t take a second bite at the cherry. Pembroke’s Craig Fulton then rounded Steven Doran with his penalty, only to slip at the vital moment and fire wide of an open goal. Graham Shaw was next to step up; Harte saved, but Glens remonstrated with the umpires that the Cork native had moved too early, again seemingly due to differences of opinion regarding the interpretation of the rules. Shaw was surprisingly allowed a re-take, but Harte saved that one too. Pembroke’s Alan Sothern and Glens’ find of the season Shane O’Donoghue made no mistake to force sudden death, and Fulton had better luck second time around, leaving O’Donoghue with a do-or-die effort for Glens. But Harte denied the 16-year-old Shane O’Donoghue to give Pembroke their fourth trophy in as many weeks. He had earlier embellished his burgeoning reputation as one of the world’s best keepers with some scarcely believable saves.

In extra time alone, he somehow got a stick to a stinging O’Donoghue reverse before clawing out a Butler drag-flack bound for the top corner. However, he was beaten by David Keogh and Eddie O’Malley during normal time, goals which book-ended an Alan Sothern drag-flick and a super Stu Loughrey strike for the ‘Broke, the youngster’s lovely collection of Tim Lewis’ aerial and taking out Richie Shaw in the process before guiding the ball past Steven Doran. Glens were also at the centre of controversy in the last four, where they saw off Banbridge in a 5-4 thriller. Johnny Kane’s 53rd minute goal for Glens was the centre of an official complaint from Banbridge; the public clock – not an official measure of time – signalled that the third quarter was long over, but the technical bench failed to sound the hooter. Kane scored 26 seconds after it should have been blown, but the tournament director decided Banbridge’s appeal should not be upheld. They levelled the game up as Ross McCandless completed his hat-trick of drag-flicks, but Butler sealed the deal with a super flick of his own. The IHA last night issued a statement – which can be seen in full here – outlining the process for the decision to allow the goal, noting that “in this instance the management of the timing by the table officials during the game caused confusion and fell short of the expected standard”. In the other semi, Three Rock had the lion’s share of possession and pressure against Pembroke, but a stunner from Justin Sherriff and a Sothern drag-flick – coming after Lucas Piccioli had given Rovers the lead – gave the Serpentine Avenue side a 2-1 win. Adrian Boehm’s pictures from the final are available here.