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Corinthian sweep past threadbare ‘Broke

gilliantest — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 19:02:00 +0000

Neville Cup quarter-finals

Corinthian 4 (Lucas Piccioli 2, Davy Carson, Glenn Holmes) Pembroke 2 (Justin Sherriff 2)

Corinthian comfortably got past Pembroke to reach the Neville Cup semi-finals, building up a 4-1 lead by half-time, inspired once again by Lucas Piccioli’s trickery.

Davy Carson scored against his former club inside two minutes, tapping in after a virtuoso run from Glenn Holmes who used his pace to burn past Peter Priestly and Ken Treacy on half-way and square for the Irish U-18 international.

Justin Sherriff nailed a corner to level but Piccioli’s double swung the tie irreversibly. He stole off a hesitant Stu Garrett to bounce over David Harte for 2-1 and he put some distance between the sides when he turned Priestly in the circle from Alan Blennerhassett’s simple ball in and found the bottom right corner.

He turned provider for Holmes’ goal, the only player to react when a corner might have been awarded, flipping over Harte to leave the simplest of tasks for the striker; a just reward for a pitch length move. Sherriff pulled one back late on with a drag-flick but it was a tough stint for Pembroke with just two subs available.

Fingal 1 (Gary Sharman) Monkstown 2 (Alec Barrett ps, Stephen Cole) on golden goal

Stephen Cole’s stunning golden goal put Monkstown into the semi-final of the Neville Cup, guaranteeing Rory O’Donoghue a semi-final date against his former club, Glenanne, in late November.

Alec Barrett scored a penalty stroke in the second half after Ben Chillingworth took one to the body on the line for 1-0. But Gary Sharman scored a rebounded corner goal – his first since joining from Kilkenny – to force extra-time.

Cole, though, spanked in a brilliant reverse-stick effort in the second period of extra-time to take the win.

YMCA 5 (Andy Walker 2, Mikey Fry, Cliff Bailey, Jacob Webber) Clontarf 0

Clontarf got a harsh lesson of what to expect in the season to come in division one as they conceded five and, were it not for goalkeeper Stephen Kearns’ form, it could have been more.

Jacob Webber scored three days after returning from Australia while Cliff Bailey got his first goal for the club to add to strikes from more established YM players Mikey Fry and Andy Walker.

Skerries scr Glenanne w/o

Semi-final draw: Monkstown vs Glenanne; Corinthian vs YMCA

* For more of Adrian Boehm’s pics from the Corinthian vs Pembroke game, click here

‘Broke’s Kelly out of Neville panel

gilliantest — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:06:00 +0000

Pembroke have been rocked by what looks a serious Achilles tendon injury to veteran defender Colin Kelly (pictured, left) ahead of their Neville Cup second round tie against Corinthian at Whitechurch Park.

His unavailability comes in addition to the players in the Irish panel though David Harte is entitled to return, given the exemptions for goalkeepers.

That game looks to be the tie of the round, especially in light of the reds performance in mid-week.

They proved the most impressive of first round winners with Lucas Piccioli, Glenn Holmes and Davy Carson in devastating form.

Combined with their Mills Cup win last March, they are a side justified in having some confidence going into this tie against the guts of a panel who struggled to show a ruthless streak against Weston on Tuesday.

The winner there will play either Clontarf or YMCA with the former holding the aces. YM won 6-0 in a pre-season tie before the arrival of Aussie trio Mills, Gill and Webber as well as Walker’s Andy and Iain.

The Bulls have a couple of injury worries, too, with Rob Abbott nursing a hand problem while Richie Forrest is also out. Stephen Ludgate could return, though, and Ben Hewitt is likely to make his debut. Gordon Lindsay and Ross McMullen have both retired.

On the other side of the draw, Fingal face the new corner threat of Kiwi Andy Ewington at ALSAA in the other all-division one tie. Glenanne will hope for a fruitful day at the seaside as they visit a Skerries side missing Ronan Gannon – among others – due to long-term travels.

Neville Cup Round 2 (all Saturday)
Fingal v Monkstown, 2pm, ALSAA; Skerries v Glenanne, 2pm, Skerries; Corinthians v Pembroke Wanderers, 1.30pm,Whitechurch Park; YMCA v Clontarf, 3pm, Alexandra College

News in Brief: AGM date announced

gilliantest — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:49:00 +0000

* The Leinster Branch have served notice of their September General Meeting. It will be held on Wednesday, September 30 2009 in Three Rock hockey club at 7.30pm.

An Agenda will follow closer to date and all clubs are asked to ensure that they are represented.

* St Brendan’s Phoenix Park will celebrate their 80th anniversary on Saturday with a pre-season, 7-a-side tournament at their club home on the grass in the Phoenix Park.

Refreshments and food will be available throughout the day and entertainment will be provided that night in the clubhouse.

* Galway hockey club have launched an excellent micro-site for next February’s EuroHockey Indoor Club Champion’s Challeng. Check it out at http://www.galwayindoor2010.com/

* There are still a couple of places left for the umpires seminar which gets underway tomorrow morning. If you would like to sign up at this late stage, contact Crozier Deane on 086 828 1393.

* Due to the volume of stories over the past couple of days, to make sure you haven’t missed anything, here is a couple of links to all the new additions in the past two days:

- Corinthian reach Neville Cup quarter-finals

- Boyne and Athy hockey clubs are born

- Leinster schoolgirl’s Premier League tips off

- Argentina pull out of Dublin series

- Ewington dream debut for the Town

- Tom O’Donoghue names Leinster U-18 panel

O’Donoghue names U-18 girl’s panel

gilliantest — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 11:09:00 +0000

Tom O’Donoghue has named a high quality Leinster U-18 squad, packed with division one talent for what promises to be a high quality tournament at Grange Road on October 3 and 4.

Ireland A pair Chloe Watkins and Gillian Pinder (as captain) are among five returnees from the 2008 panel. They are joined by Deirdre Duke, Patricia O’Dwyer and Sinead McGirr who all picked up division one experience in the 2008/09 season with Hermes, Railway and Loreto respectively.

They are joined in the panel by a quartet of Old Alex youngsters – Emily Beatty, Vera Taaffe, Nicola Gray and Leah Lenehan – who have been added to the club’s first team panel. Aisling Naughton and Lisa McCarthy step up from the Irish U-16s. Loreto, Beaufort is the school with the biggest representation with six players involved.

Connacht have named a similarly impressive squad with a large contingent from the Colaiste Iognaid side who won last year’s Kate Russell Cup inlcuding the trio of Tara Melvin, Katie Codyre, Michelle Carey and Lynsey Trainor and will be a force to reckoned with.

Ulster have yet to release their panel but have won the competition in eight of the last nine years.

Leinster U-18 panel: Rachel Barnett (GK, Holy Faith Clontarf/Railway Union), Ruth Murphy (GK, Loreto Beaufort/Loreto), Carly Baker (Loreto Beaufort/Loreto), Ailsing Burke (Alexandra College/Hermes), Laura Delany (Loreto Beaufort/Corinthian), Deirdre Duke (Alexandra College/Hermes), Nicola Gray (VC, Alexandra College/Old Alex), Juliette King Hall (Newpark School/Hermes), Leah Lenehan (Alexandra College/Old Alex), Lisa McCarthy (Mount Anville/Railway Union), Sinead McGirr (Loreto Beaufort/Loreto), Aisling Naughton (Alexandra College/Corinthian), Patricia O’Dwyer (Loreto Beaufort/Railway Union), Niamh O’Reilly (Loreto Beaufort/Loreto), Gillian Pinder (Capt, St Andrews College/Hermes), Vera Taaffe (St Andrews College/Old Alex), Chloe Watkins (St Andrews College/Hermes), Emily Beatty (Alexandra College/Old Alex)

Manager: Wendy Byrne
Coach: Tom O’Donoghue
Asst Coach: Eimear Campion
GK Coach: Jane Coyne

Monkstown complete Neville quarters line-up

gilliantest — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 23:16:00 +0000

Neville Cup Round One:
Dublin Uni 1 (Tolley Humphries) Monkstown 7 (Andy Ewington 5, Frank Ryan 2)
Andy Ewington made a dream debut for Monkstown as the New Zealand showed his penalty corner menace at Santry this evening, crashing in four drag-flicks as well as rebounding another penalty corner.

Trinity kept the visitors to just a single first half but the Town cut loose in the second period as Ewington found his range while teenager Frank Ryan weighed in with a pair. Tolley Humphries got the sole response with the score at 4-0.

Gareth Watkins sat the game out but Monkstown easily progress to set up another visit to the Santry area on Saturday, this time to face a stiffer test in Fingal.

Neville Cup Round 2 (all Saturday)
Fingal v Monkstown, 2pm, ALSAA; Skerries vs. Glenanne, 2pm, Skerries; Corinthians v Pembroke Wanderers, 1.30pm,Whitechurch Park; YMCA v Clontarf, 3pm, Alexandra College

Argentina pull out of Dublin series

gilliantest — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:12:00 +0000

Argentina, who were due to play Ireland in a triple header, on September 28 and 30and October 1 in Dublin, have confirmed they are not in a position to make the trip and have pulled out of the series.

In light of the cancelled Argentinean series, Revington will now re-select his squad for the Scottish series, scheduled for October 2-4, but the squad for the French series remains unchanged. Revington is expected to re-announce the squad later next week.

Mount Temple show Premier quality

gilliantest — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 09:25:00 +0000

Senior Girls Premier League: Week 1

The Senior Girls League got underway, with teams shaking off the return to school to put in some excellent performances. The show, however, was stolen by Mount Temple – newcomers to this level – who put in a fantastic performance to gain a comfortable three points at the expense of Our Lady’s Terenure. Elsewhere, there were heavy victories for Loreto, Beaufort and St Andrews College against Sutton Park and Loreto, Dalkey respectively.

Section A

Mount Temple 4-1 Our Lady’s Terenure
Our Lady’s started brightly and dominated the early phases but couldn’t penetrate the Mount temple circle; Temple held strong and took a surprise lead when Sarah Murray pounced quickest to flick home after 20mins. A minute into the second half, a well worked short corner was converted by Nicola Taylor and then, just 90 seconds later, a flowing move from a hit out saw Megan Oliver fire home a reverse stick goal. Our Lady’s didn’t give up and Claire Walsh got a goal back. They kept coming forward but the home side always looked a threat on the attack and scored again with five minutes remaining when Nicola Taylor slotted home her second of the match.

Wesley College 4-1 Muckross Park
Wesley College got their campaign off to an excellent start, comfortably taking care of business against Muckross Park. Sarah Robinson and Hannah Honner scored in the first half to put the home side in control, with Katie Warren extending the lead in the second period. Sarah Twomey hit back for Muckross, but a fourth goal from Anna-May Whelan put the issue beyond doubt.

Mount Sackville 2-0 Rathdown
Mount Sackville got the better of their opening fixture, in a close contest. Siun McLoughlin opened the scoring in the first half, and a neat short corner from Emma Sweeney in the second secured the victory – with goalkeeper Blaithin Colgan keeping a clean sheet in her team’s first outing.

Loreto, Dalkey 0-7 St Andrews College
St Andrews proved to be far too strong for Loreto, Dalkey. A glorious hat-trick from Sarah Woodroofe provided the spark, and further goals from Harriet Kinsman, Chloe Watkins, Sophie Marshall, and Gillian Pinder cemented the scoreline.

Section B

Loreto, Beaufort 8-0 Sutton Park
Newcomers Sutton Park experienced a difficult opening fixture against one of the traditional powerhouses of the league. Hat-tricks from Sinead McGirr and Carly Baker were added to by Orla Gavin and Laura Delany, as Beaufort excelled at scoring both from play and set-pieces.

Loreto, Foxrock 0-1 St. Gerards
An entertaining, end-to-end battle, resulted in a hard fought win for St. Gerards – the only goal of the game coming from Danni Maher. Katie Burgess impressed in defence for St Gerards, who won despite an excellent performance from Foxrock’s Sarah Greene.

Remaining Week One Section B fixtures
Thursday, Septemner 17: The Kings Hospital v Mount Anville
Saturday, September 19: Holy Child, Killiney v The High School

Week 2 fixtures: To be played by 26th September
Section A: Rathdown v Loreto,Bray; St Andrews College v Mount Temple; Muckross Park v Mount Sackville; Our Lady’s Terenure v Wesley College
Section B: Sutton Park v Alexandra College; The High School v Loreto, Foxrock; Mount Anville v Loreto, Beaufort; St Gerards v The Kings Hospital

* For more of Deryck Vincent’s photos from the Mount Temple vs Our Lady’s, Terenure game, click here

Boyne and Athy join Leinster hockey landscape

gilliantest — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 09:20:00 +0000

A new club for the North Meath/Louth area will open its doors this weekend, the Drogheda Independent reported, as Boyne hockey club opens its doors for the first time on Saturday.

The club has appointed officers and will loan equipment from the IHA and Drogheda Grammar School until members get the chance to get their own equipment.

The club will be based in Drogheda GS on the banks of the river Boyne and will have support from the Louth and Meath Local Sports Partnerships.

Registration will take place on Saturday in the school’s dining hall. Boys and girls aged between eight and 12 will train each week for about one hour, having occasional blitzes against other clubs.

Elsewhere, Athy hockey club join the men’s ranks in Leinster league division seven, making their competitive debut against UCD III on Saturday, September 27.

The club has been formed by Kilkenny, Wesley and King’s Hospital past-pupils who banded together while at the local rugby club in Athy.

They train on a local artificial turf pitch designed for football but will play their home games in the Caragh Road grounds in Naas. They picked up a win last week in a preseason friendly with Steve Ashmore, Barry Ashmore and Jamie Coyle scoring the goals in a 3-1 result against Naas II.

The club’s ladies section currently plays in the South East branch competitions.

Corinthian hit double figures

gilliantest — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 21:03:00 +0000

Neville Cup Round One:

Corinthian 10 (Lucas Piccioli 3, Glen Holmes 3, Brian Doherty 2, Chris Pelow, Andrew Sutton) Avoca 1 (Stephen Brownlow)

Corinthian made light work of their return to competitive action to gift Andrew Cronje a first win at the helm of the reds. Lucas Piccioli made it 3-0 in jig-time with an innovative hat-trick before Glenn Holmes got in on the act with a lengthy run and upright reverse-stick finish.

Brian Doherty netted the fifth from play, staying in the circle after a corner had gone awry and Holmes made it 6-0 at the break.

Sebastian Percivalle pulled off a string of top saves but the scoring scarcely slowed down in the second half.

Doherty’s drag-flick continued the goal-rush – a slight quibble may be that it was the sole penalty corner conversion from eight efforts – and Holmes became the second to complete his hat-trick, rebounding Davy Carson’s shot.

Chris Pelow made it 9-0 before Stephen Brownlow got Avoca’s consolation. Andrew Sutton, though, scrambled over the line for 10-1 late on. The reds, despite a few early teething problems with the new rules, look sharp ahead of a second round tie with Pembroke.