There proved to be no fairy-tale Irish Senior Cup finalist as both Corinthian and UCD bowed out at the semi-final stage to Banbridge and Monkstown, the champions of the past two years.
Leinster league side Corinthian were bidding to reach their first final since 1901 and fronted up well in the opening stages against Bann but ultimately fell to a 4-0 defeat.
Matthew Bell netted the only goal of the first half before Eugene Magee made the game more comfortable.
It was his third goal of the weekend, adding to a brace in a 5-1 EY Hockey League mauling of Monkstown a day earlier.
Bell and Jonny McKee added further set-piece goals to close out the cup victory.
Town, meanwhile, took their frustrations out on the UCD students to keep alive their hopes of retaining the Senior Cup title, winning 6-1.
Backhand rocket
Davy Carson scored inside 50 seconds with a backhand rocket before Andrew Ward flicked in a second goal from an end-to-end counter.
Lee Cole’s drag-flick made it 3-0 by the 10th minute.
UCD rallied via Brian O’Malley’s effort but another Cole drag had UCD 4-1 up and cruising by half-time but Sam Hyland and Gareth Watkins compounded the students issues.
In the EY league, Bann’s win put them two points clear at the top of the table with Three Rock Rovers the main chasers after an impressive 3-1 win over Lisnagarvey.
Rovers had just three players aged over 22 in their panel with Jody Hosking, Ross Canning and recently capped Ben Walker all absent.
But their young charges continue to grow in stature with three teenagers scoring their goals. Rob McCollum, on debut, got the first before Conor Empey made it 2-0 early in the second half. Mark Samuel completed the win with a solo goal after Daniel Buser got one back in the third quarter.
Instonians, meanwhile, notched their first win of the campaign with a 3-1 win over UCD.
EY HOCKEY LEAGUE: Monkstown 1 Banbridge 5 (E Magee 2, M Bell, J McKee, D Ward); Cork C of I 1 (A Power) Railway Union 4 (R Forrest 2, P Catchpole, S McKeever); Instonians 3 (S Kelso, W Robinson, M Irwin) UCD 1 (J Duncan); Three Rock Rovers 3 (R McCollum, C Empey, M Samuel) Lisnagarvey 1 (D Buser); Pembroke 5 (A Sothern 3, E Goode, S Furlong) Glenanne 2 (S Brownlow, S O'Donoghue)
IRISH SENIOR CUP, SEMI-FINALS: Banbridge 4 (M Bell 2, J McKee, E Magee Corinthian 0; UCD v Monkstown, 3.30pm, Belfield
IRISH HOCKEY TROPHY (SATURDAY): North Down 5 Ashton 0
LEINSTER DIVISION ONE: Weston 2 (S O;Hare 2) Clontarf 7 (J Mullins 3, K Murray, R Duggan, O O'Donnell, G Borland); Kilkenny 2 (T Manning, E Dore) Dublin University 3; YMCA 4 (J Tobin 3, E Prehn) Avoca 1 (E Rankin).
