Lisnagarvey 3 UCD 2
Lisnagarvey crushed UCD’s hopes of a maiden men’s Irish Senior Cup crown as two goals in the last 12 minutes saw the Hillsborough giants claim their 24th success in the hockey world’s oldest club competition.
After the Dublin college’s women had won the earlier final, it also denied UCD a unique place in hockey folk - never have both the men’s and women’s titles been held by the same club at the same time.
Garvey had begun in dream fashion, Ben Nelson scoring just 75 seconds into the contest but Andrew Meates tied things up with scarcely three minutes on the clock.
And with Conor Empey ghosting past players in midfield UCD were good value when they took the lead before half-time. It was scarcely a thing of beauty as Guy Sarratt’s attempted slam-dunk bounced off the post and was eventually bundled in, Sam Byrne getting the official credit.
The students, however, sat too deep in the second half and invited on wave after wave of Garvey attack. They should have got some respite when Andy Edgar took a yellow card for a hard shoulder on Empey but, in his absence, the Ulster side crucially struck twice.
Nelson picked up the pieces from a loose clearance at close quarters to slip in the 2-2 goal. Andy Williamson may well have been muttering under his breath when he was waiting to sub on for Edgar only to be delayed for the former’s suspension.
He did get on seconds later, though, for the game’s most telling touch, finishing off Troy Chambers’ cross.
Goalkeeper James Milliken then brilliantly maintained the narrow advantage with a stick save onto the post from Guy Sarratt with time running out to secure the victory.
Lisnagarvey: J Milliken, J Lorimer, J Lynch, J Bell, M McNellis, J Corry, B Nelson, C Chambers, A Edgar, T Chambers, D Nelson. Subs: A Williamson, H Morris, M Aughey, M Morris, M Milliken, P Hunter, J Rithchie.
UCD: M Maguire, A Flynn, C Empey, A Meates, D Nolan, M Samuel, E Ramsay, G Sarratt, Z Agnew, J Guilfoyle, S Byrne. Subs: J Pullen, A Keane, A Tutty, P Lynch, C Murphy, S Wells.
Umipres: R Argent, I Strange.
