Glenanne retain Neville Cup with win over Corinthian

Glenanne 3 (S Brownlow, S Ronan, M McGuinness) Corinthian 0

Glenanne retained the Neville Cup in controlled fashion as they saw off Corinthian 3-0 in the annual St Stephen's Day final at Serpentine Avenue.

They were scarcely threatened from the moment star man Stephen Brownlow converted a fifth minute penalty stroke while Stu Ronan's corner rebound gave them a tidy 2-0 half-time lead.

Despite Corinthian holding more of the second half play, Glenanne were always more ruthless and Mick McGuinness eventually bundled home goal number three in the closing stages.

It caps a fine first half of the campaign for the Tallaght club who were unfancied prior to the season but have shown enough form in the Leinster league to suggest they will form part of next season's expanded Irish Hockey League.

Indeed, barring a last minute concession in last week’s 4-4 draw with reigning IHL champs Monkstown, the Glens would be top of that league right now.

They carried that confidence into the early stages of this final against a side lacking the goalscoring threat of Ian Stewart and David Howard.

Ronan was up-turned by the otherwise impressive goalkeeper Ross Murray five minutes in to give Brownlow the early chance from the penalty spot. He slotted low to the right.

Enda Tucker twice drew great saves from Murray with deft touches while there was a strong shout for a second stroke when Brownlow's shot hit a body on the line.

Yet another Brownlow effort hit the post on 33 minutes and Ronan snapped up the close range rebound to establish a suitable lead to go with their dominance.

Corinthian did have the guts of the ball after the break but lacked incision in the final phase. And they could not capitalise either when Brownlow was sin-binned as Ben Murphy saw yellow immediately afterwards and the Glens crowned their win when Richie Shaw stole the ball on halfway.

He and McGuinness shared selfless passes before the latter finished off the win with five minutes left.

GLENANNE: K Crosbie, M McGuinness, C Kennedy, D Keogh, R Shaw, N Byrne, S Brownlow, E O'Malley, E Tucker, S Ronan, S O'Connor. Subs: P Gahan, D Carey, C O'Neill, I Marron, J Kerrison
CORINTHIAN: R Murray, A Blennerhassett, C Motyer, B Murphy, D Poff, A Sutton, G Holmes, S Reid, K Smith, D Winn, J Perdue. Subs: B Glavey, G Elliott, M Richard, N Pelow, C Blennerhassett.
Umpires: K Cholewa, S O'Connor.