The two meetings between the provincial league sides served up the most drama as both Ulster Premier side Cookstown's game with Leinster's Railway Union and the Munster Division One showdown between Cork C of I and Bandon went to shoot-outs.
Cork C of I won a Munster thriller against Bandon to reach the final eight of the men's Irish Senior Cup, eventually prevailing after a shoot-out following a 3-3 draw in normal time.
The west Cork outfit had led 2-1 at half-time as they eyed a famous win and it was still in the balance when the tie went to shoot-out with Bandon leading at 2-1, 3-2 and 4-3 but C of I kept pace and slotted their winner.
Cookstown will continue to fly the Ulster Premier Division flag into the quarter-final as they raided Railway Union to land a spot in the last eight via a shoot-out.
It was a big battle with Cookstown taking the lead via Jack Haycock's corner only for Jeremy McKeever and Rob Abbott to turn things around. But Max Anderson snagged an equaliser while Railway were down to 10 players in the closing five minutes and they took the momentum into the shoot-out to win 2-1 with Josh McCabe producing the goalkeeping heroics.
YMCA shaded their battle with UCD 1-0 with Ben Campbell’s first half goal the divider between the teams, allowing YMCA to survive a nail-biting second half.
Monkstown picked up a big win at Banbridge with Mark Gibbons, Guy Sarratt and Jazze Henry doing the damage in a 3-2 success at Havelock Park.
Otherwise, the scorelines ended up being quite one-sided. Three Rock Rovers pulled away from Dublin 16 rivals Corinthian for a second time in a week, Ryan Spencer netting a double as they built a 4-0 lead by the third quarter and ended up with a 5-1 success to their name.
Glenanne were kept within range for three quarters by Cork Harlequins. Just Shannon Boucher’s penalty corner separated the EYHL leaders from the Munster Division One side but a late triple saw the Glens pull away and win 4-0.
Pembroke came from a goal down to record their first win of the season with player-coach Alan Sothern running up a hat trick in a 5-1 win over Annadale with captain Julian Dale getting the other two goals.
Reigning champions Lisnagarvey were the biggest winners with eight different goalscorers in their 10-0 win over Rathgar.
Men's Irish Senior Cup - Round 2: Annadale 1 (C Robson) Pembroke 5 (A Sothern 3, J Dale 2); Banbridge 2 (L Rowe, S Farson) Monkstown 3 (M Gibbons, G Sarratt, J Henry); Cork C of I 3 (A Moffett, P Sweetnam, S Wolfe) Bandon 3 (I Perrott, R Smyth, D Jennings), C of I win shoot-out 5-4; Glenanne 4 (S Boucher 3, G Shaw) Cork Harlequins 0; Lisnagarvey 10 (J Lorimer 2, A Edgar 2, T Chambers, C Chambers, O Kidd, B Nelson, D Nelson, R Getty) Rathgar 0; Railway Union 2 (J McKeever, R Abbott) Cookstown 2 (J Haycock, M Anderson), Cookstown win shoot-out 2-1; Three Rock Rovers 5 (R Spencer 2, B Johnson, E Jennings, A Empey) Corinthian 1 (C Futcher); YMCA 1 (B Campbell) UCD 0
Irish Hockey Trophy - Round 1: Ashton 2 (J Sweetnam 2) Portadown 5; Avoca 1 (A Tutty) South Antrim 4 (J Kamalarajah, C Henry, B Clarke, M Taylor); Ballynahinch 2 (J Campbell 2) Catholic Institute 5 (C Ryan 4, T Gaffney); Bangor 5 (R Burgess 2, Z McKee 2, M Sanchez) Kilkenny 3 (D McClure 2, E Dore); Belfast Harlequins 6 (M Patterson 2, C Lemon 2, C Wilson, N Anderson) UCC 2 (C McCormack, L Hennigan); Dublin North 2 (A Dempsey 2) Bray 1 (G Evans); NICS 2 Queens University 8 (C Irwin 3, H Scott 2, S McCabe 2, J Taggart); North Down 4 (H Templeton, P Templeton, J Spratt, G Bailie) Newry 2 (K McWilliams, J Taylor)
