HOCKEY:PEMBROKE WANDERERS and Glenanne are the only Leinster sides to maintain their perfect starts to the season after coming through the weekend's fixtures unscathed, Pembroke beating YMCA 2-1 and a Stephen Butler brace giving Glenanne the points against Three Rock Rovers.
YMCA, though, gave Pembroke their first real test of the campaign, and if it wasn’t for the goalkeeping of David Harte they might well have taken something from the game. As it proved, goals from Tim Lewis and Alan Giles were enough for Pembroke to make it four wins our of four, Jacob Webber’s score the first they have conceded in the league this season.
Australian Todd Gill, who joined YMCA in the summer, suffered a broken jaw in the game when he was hit by the ball and was due to have an operation on the injury yesterday.
Glenanne, meanwhile, ended Three Rock Rovers’ winning start to the campaign at Grange Road, Butler converting a short corner in the first half before getting his second from a stroke after the break.
Two goals from Chris Neville helped Fingal to a comfortable 4-0 victory over Railway Union but UCD and Clontarf have still to pick up their first points of the campaign after losing 6-3 to Corinthian and 5-2 to Monkstown, respectively, on Saturday.
Pembroke Wanderers set up a second round tie with Glenanne in the Irish Senior Cup when they beat Lurgan on penalty strokes in their delayed opening-round game on Saturday. Rachel McKeon gave the Leinster side a first-half lead but Jill Edgar forced the tie in to extra time. There were no more goals, Pembroke, thanks largely to Jane Coyne’s goalkeeping, going through 3-2 on strokes.
