PEMBROKE WANDERERS will be confident of breaking Glenanne's resistance in the Leinster Senior Cup semifinal replay next weekend if Francis de Rosa, Peter Young and Duncan McKeen can line out at Tallaght. Their absence from the back four at Serpentine on Saturday meant that Pembroke could never be totally assertive as Glenanne fought tenaciously to poach a 3-3 draw.
When stronger at the back, and probably retaining the reinvigorated Colin Kelly, Pembroke can widen their options in midfield and attack, forcing the Glenanne goalkeeper Ian Clarke into even more action than that in which he excelled on Saturday. He kept the first half scoreless, notably in smothering a penalty stroke from Paudie Carley after Alan Thompson had threatened to make an early breakthrough.
Pembroke continued to put on the pressure after the interval, but Ciaran Bolger and Paul Fitpatrick stood their ground staunchly and Clarke could only be beaten by a second penalty stroke, put away this time by Carley. But from a rare break by Glenanne, an equaliser was fired in by short-corner specialist Stephen Butler.
While it was a surprise that Glenanne were first to score in extra time, through Mark Lambe following an incision by the ever-darting Roly O'Donoghue, the workrate of Devin Donnellly led to Andy Cooke making it 2-2.
Then, the unflagging Cooke appeared to clinch a home victory with a second goal of equal industry. Again, however, Glenanne managed to manufacture another corner for Butler to whip the ball past Jason O'Brien.
The new Pembroke goalkeeper, though, did keep out two of Butler's missiles, which were more menacing on the day than Stephen Stewart's set-pieces which were not as effective as usual without de Rosa's hit-outs. Yet, ultimately, Clarke kept Glenanne's hopes of retaining the Mills trophy alive by foiling Stewart from his last swing of the game.
Three Rock Rovers, motored into the Cable & Wireless final without too much difficulty, winning 4-2 at Park Avenue against a Railway Union side hoping to be back at full strength, with batteries recharged, for their appearance in the more prestigious Irish Senior Cup semi-finals after Easter. Christian Judd notched two of the Rovers goals, finishing off Robin Madeley corners.
Because of recent bouts of flu and several strained muscles, Ireland's 16-man squad for the World Cup qualifying tournament, in Kuala Lumpur next month, will not be finalised by coach Cees Koppelaar until later this week during the training trip to Holland. Robbie Ryan, Greg Sterritt, Errol Lutton and Alan Dowd missed yesterday's practise match at Blaris in which the Irish seniors beat the under-21's 5-0.
