Men's Hockey: Although there were no upsets in the fourth round of the Irish Senior Cup, the 2000 winners, Pembroke Wanderers, were fully stretched in shaking off Monkstown's buzzing challenge (1-0) - and the quarter-finals will all be close calls.
Pembroke, notably, face an excursion to Lough Moss on March 2nd to tackle Annadale after both sides depended on their breakaway tactics to get through. Goals by Ian McKeown and Aaron Gill poached a 2-0 victory for Annadale against Three Rock Rovers at Grange Road while Monkstown allowed Justin Sherriff to strike decisively for Pembroke only at the start of the second half on a social afternoon at Rathdown.
Sherriff, whose combination with Gordon Elliott will boost Leinster's hopes on their return to interprovincial action next weekend, also surged clear to hit a post as well as being foiled in a one-on-one by Shane Davey. But much of the game was taken up by swarms of Monkstown attacks, spearheaded by David Jenkins, from which Pembroke were fortunate to survive.
The most exciting game of the day was at Raphoe where the Donegal side advanced, 3-2, against North Down. Key figures for the north-westerners were goalkeeper David Buchanan and (once again) Johnny Weir, who converted a penalty three minutes from the end of extra time.
Raphoe, in the quarter-finals for the fourth time, are now at home to Instonians, who edged out Lisnagarvey 2-1 in the summit clash in Belfast.
Possibly the most lively affair in the last-eight stage will involve Corinthians and Cork C of I, who eliminated Queen's University and Railway Union, 6-0 and 3-0, respectively. The draw is not too favourable for Munster ambitions, for C of I will not be accustomed to the pace of Colin Stewart at Whitechurch Park while Harlequins (assuming they eliminate Avoca in their postponed tie) will not relish the trip to Dublin to meet Glenanne.
Glenanne, who defeated Harlequins (2-1) in the semi-finals last season on the way to winning the trophy, came through as expected against Banbridge on Saturday, 3-1, though it was not until midway in the second half that Stephen Butler initially broke Kyle Thompson's resistance.
IRISH SENIOR CUP
Fourth round - Instonians 2 (C Barnes, A Gill) Lisnagarvey 1 (K Lunn); Cork C of I 3 (R Heaslip, A Dunne, A Chambers) Railway Union 0; Glenanne 3 (S Butler 2, D Kehoe) Banbridge 1 (R Madeley); Raphoe 3 (J Weir 2 - one pen, W Kilpatrick) North Down 2 (S Hunter, S Barr) aet; Three Rock Rovers 0, Annadale 2 (I McKeown, A Smyth); Monkstown 0, Pembroke Wanderers 1 (J Sherriff); Corinthians 6 (C Stewart 3, D Williams, M Warren, R Byrnes) Queen's University 0; March 2nd: Cork Harlequins v Avoca.
Quarter-finals - March 2nd: Corinthians v Cork C of I; Annadale v Pembroke Wanderers; Raphoe v Instonians; March 9th: Glenanne v Harlequins or Avoca.
