Instonians - 2 Pembroke - 1The Irish Senior Cup goes North after a bizarre opening goal gifted Instonians with a perfect start in the Belfield final, with a second goal on 20 minutes setting up a match for Pembroke that ensured it would be a game of regaining lost ground.
The opening goal is still being debated and greatly changed the context of the match, one where a roaming and naturally attacking Pembroke faced a well-organized Instonians defence which regularly squeezed the Dublin side and threw out sharp counter-attacking moves.
It was Instonians' Mark Irwin who found space on the left wing after seven minutes and skilfully drilled a reverse stick cross to Mark Gleghorne sliding in on the far post. Gleghorne was met by goalkeeper Stephen Doran,and the ball appeared to go wide.
Instead it came back into play, most people believing it had hit the post. But the ball had actually come off the foot of umpire Colin Hutchinson, and as Gleghorne stood up to scoop into the net for Instonians' first goal Hutchinson was met with a convulsion of protest from the Pembroke defence, who claimed he was behind the back line and out of play when the ball struck his foot.
But the goal was awarded, and as Pembroke struggled to find their game Instonians stuck again when Chris Burns, taking advantage of loose marking, intelligently ran onto an optimistic through-ball from Clarke Kennedy up a right channel, collided with Doran but again reacted first to the lose ball to push in from a yard or so out.
"One nil down was not a position we wanted, never mind two," said Pembroke coach Simon Filgas. "It suited them. They've a good defensive back four and they were well-organised.
"The umpire knew that if the ball hit him it was still in play. He didn't realise he wasn't on the pitch. It unsettled us and we didn't really get going until after half-time. It was a weird, weird goal to concede.
"In the end, and even with three minutes left, I thought we had done enough to equalise but it was our corners that let us down in the end."
Instonians, coached by former Irish player and British Olympic bronze medallist Billy McConnell, successfully defended seven of Pembroke's eight shorts corners, the last one awarded seven seconds from the end of the match, a poor return from such a good side.
But it was the difficulty in finding their flowing game that emerged as the most frustrating aspect of Pembroke's performance, an element Instonians greatly added to by reducing the pitch and particularly squeezing the left and right backs, who were made work hard to deliver any quality ball forward.
Paddy Brown in the Instonians defence was also intelligent and robust in equal measure, ensuring Justin Sherriff and Gordon Elliott would have to work for any gain.
That they did, but only in the second half and particularly the closing 15 minutes. Sherriff was quiet by his standards while Elliott, although lively, fed of scraps.
Paudie Carley, moving forward from midfield in the second half, created more than he had early on, but even after Alan Giles had successfully followed up off the pads from a Sherriff corner flick on 54 minutes for 2-1, the four short corners in the closing 10 minutes weren't enough.
Avoca held on to senior status in the Leinster Senior League with a 3-0 win over Naas in the division one play-off at Serpentine Avenue. Two goals from Mike Gunne and one from Nigel Kingston secured the tie.
PEMBROKE: S Doran, P Carley, K Treacy, D Mckeen (capt), R Gormley, A Kershaw, D Donnelly, F De Rossa, G Elliott, J Sherriff, A Giles.
INSTONIANS: N Skillen, P Brown, T Taylor, A Lewis, M Wainwright, C Kennedy, J Lewis (capt), M Irwin, C Barnes, M Gleghorne, S Reid.
Umpires: C Hutchinson, G Burns.
