Men's Hockey Weekend round-up: If Glenanne are going to win the biggest competition in Irish hockey this season, they are certainly going to do it the difficult way. The Tallaght side pulled off one of the toughest demands over the weekend in their Irish Senior Cup quarter-final against Ulster's Annadale, and were then promptly drawn out of the hat to face Lisnagarvey in next week's semi-finals.
Annadale, one of Ulster's strongest sides in recent years and current league leaders, fell out of the running late in the second half when Irish midfielder Stephen Butler converted a short corner for the Leinster league leaders. It proved enough to settle the match.
It is now straight into the semi-finals next week before the Irish internationals head off to Cairo for a four nations tournament as part of the build-up for Easter's World Cup qualifier in China. Goalscorer Butler, however, is not available for that trip.
Going up to Ulster, Glenanne perhaps knew more about Annadale than any other non-Ulster side. Ireland and Glenanne striker Graham Shaw spent a season there while he studied at university last season, while internationals Iain Lewers and Chris Jackson would have known plenty of Butler, who landed the European Nations Trophy's player of the tournament award in Rome last September.
But before Glenanne even began to think about celebrating, they were quickly forced into focusing on another trip north against Hillsborough-based Lisnagarvey in seven days. The multiple winners of the competition hit six goals against Dublin's Corinthians to no reply in the most one-sided game of the four. Johnny Bloomfield and Philip Stirling got two each with Tim Cockram and Ivan Steen adding the others.
Elsewhere, Cork Harlequins overcame arch rivals Cork C of I. The derby at Farmer's Cross was typically hard-fought, with the sides knowing each other's games intimately. Richard Gash opened the scoring midway through the first half to give Harlequins the lead, before adding another nine minutes later, with Paul Lombard delivering the final ball.
Harlequins now face Kilkeel away from home in what they probably consider the better of the semi-finals and the most likely one to see them into the final.
Kilkeel defeated Banbridge in a high-scoring affair, netting five goals to Banbridge's four. Despite a hat-trick from Ross McCandless, Kilkeel's William Annett hit four goals and Jonathan Aiken another in the win.
IRISH SENIOR CUP - Quarter-finals: Annadale 0 Glenanne 1 (S Butler); Kilkeel 5 (W Annett 4, W Aitken) Banbridge 4 (R McCandless 3, S Magowan); Cork Harlequins 2 (R Ash 2) Cork C of I 0; Lisnagarvey 6 (P Stirling 2, J Bloomfield 2, T Cockram, I Steen) Corinthians 0.
Semi-final draw: Lisnagarvey v Glenanne; Kilkeel v Cork Harlequins (to be played next Saturday)
LEINSTER SENIOR LEAGUE - Division Two: UCD 0 Suttonians 2 (C Gillette 2); Skerries 2 (S Healy, R Gannon) Clontarf 0; Portrane/StB/PP 2 (C Neville, R Billings) Kilkenny 0; Naas 1 (M Weir) Weston 2 (P Mahony, A Graham).
MUNSTER SENIOR LEAGUE - Division One: Belvedere 3 (J Enright 2, P Murray) Catholic Institute 1 (D Kavanagh); Bandon 3 (D Smyth 2, G O'Sullivan) UCC 2 (B Appleby, R Cooney).
