HOCKEY: It was a varied international year but one that ultimately ended in disappointment when Ireland finished ninth in the European Championship in Barcelona and were relegated into the B division of European hockey.
Over the 12 months, the national team played 23 matches, won nine, lost 10 and drew four, scoring 43 goals and conceding 49. A couple of better results in Barcelona and those statistics could have looked much different. The team could so easily have won more matches than it lost and scored mores goals than it conceded.
In the scoring department, the side were heavily reliant on Mark Irwin and Justin Sherriff, the pair scoring more than twice as many goals as anyone else, with 13 each.
But of the two players, it was Sherriff's tally that was the hardest to fathom. Nine of his goals were scored in arguably the most difficult environment, the European Championships over two weeks, with the four others grabbed between his first against Belgium in February and his fourth in June against England. He then obviously blitzed the goals in Spain.
Like Irwin, who scored two hattricks during the year, against Russia and Wales, Sherriff also hit Russia with three, in Barcelona. The Instonians player, however, was marginally more prolific, scoring his 13 goals in 21 games with Sherriff taking two more caps to get to his mark.
Gordon Elliott, who carried an injury to Spain, and Stephen Butler finished on six goals each.
It was also a year when a number of players passed the 50-cap mark, most notably goalkeeper and captain Nigel Henderson as well as Nigel Buttimer, Butler, Jason Black, Mark Raphael, Paddy Brown and Chris Jackson.
Just two players, Cookstown's Andy Barbour and Corinthians' goalkeeper Charlie Henderson, made their debut this year.
Many of those players will be in action over the weekend with matches tomorrow in the Leinster Senior League and on Sunday in the second round of the Leinster Senior Cup. Three Rock Rovers and YMCA engage in a rerun of St Stephen's Day Stephen Doyle final, which YMCA won 3-2, with the feature league match likely to be Corinthians' home game against Glenanne in Whitechurch Park.
FIXTURES: SATURDAY: Leinster Senior League: Division One: Aer Lingus v Pembroke Wanderers 1.30, AALSA; Corinthians v Glenanne 3.0, Whitechurch Park; Railway Union v YMCA 1.30, Belfield; Three Rock Rovers v Dublin University 1.45, Grange Road. Division Two: Bray v Naas 1.O, Bray; Suttonians v St Brendan's 2.O, Sutton Park; St James's Gate v Skerries 2.0, Iveagh Grounds; Portrane v Weston 1.0, College of Surgeons; Clontarf v Avoca 1.0, DCU.
SUNDAY: Leinster Senior Cup: Round two: Pembroke v St James's Gate 3.30, Serpentine Avenue; Clontarf v Portrane 2.0, DCU; Three Rock Rovers v YMCA 2.30, Grange Road; Dublin University v Naas 1.30, Santry; Suttonians v Railway Union 2.0, Sutton Park (note change in time); Monkstown v Glenanne 3.15, St Andrew's; Avoca v Weston noon, Rathdown.
