The Magee brothers inspired Banbridge to just their second win of the men's EY Hockey League season as they added to Pembroke's woes with a 4-2 success in Serpentine Avenue.
Preseason both sides were considered playoff contenders, but found themselves in the bottom three after five founds.
For Bann they are attempting to transition to a new regime under Gordon Cracknell after nine years with coach Mark Tumilty, but showed some signs of things coming together.
Against the Ballsbridge side they got off to a flyer, with Jonny McKee cashing in from Drew Carlisle’s incisive pass for 1-0 and Eugene Magee’s powerful drag-flick had them two up inside five minutes.
Greg Chambers got one back for Pembroke before half-time but Eugene harked back to his days as a Down minor hurler with a sublime strike.
His younger brother Owen nabbed their fourth before Chambers got a late consolation. In a congested mid-table it was enough to lift Bann up four places to fifth.
The Dubliners drop to ninth as a result as their struggles from last term have carried over into this campaign with just two wins from 11 league games since February.
Lisnagarvey continue to set a ferocious pace, running up a sixth successive win with a 6-2 result over Corinthian, bringing their tally to 35 goals in the premier competition.
Monkstown withstood YMCA's final-quarter comeback to prevail 3-2 at Wesley. David Cole, Gareth Watkins and Davy Carson had them seemingly on course for a handy win at half time, but penalty corner goals from Sam Hyland and Matthew Walker saw the Y reduce the gap significantly.
Three Rock Rovers’ erratic season continued as they recovered from last week’s 6-0 mauling to Town to beat and leap-frog Glenanne with plenty to spare. They led 4-0 after 14 minutes, with James Walker netting twice before completing the win in the closing phases from a counter-attack.
UCD and Annadale’s contest at Belfield was called off last Thursday due to a bout of mumps at the university.
