HOCKEY:SIX DAYS after they won the EuroHockey Club Trophy at Serpentine Avenue Pembroke Wanderers could complete a dizzyingly successful week for the club by clinching the Leinster title at Rathdown tomorrow. A point from their game with Monkstown would guarantee the title, but even a defeat wouldn't deny them if Glenanne fail to beat Three Rock Rovers in their final fixture.
An under-strength Glenanne, now three points adrift of Pembroke, slipped up badly midweek when they could only draw 4-4 with relegation-threatened UCD, Rob Lynch scoring a hat-trick for the students.
Pembroke, then, are on course to complete the second leg of a possible quadruple this season, with the Irish Senior Cup final against Cookstown and an Irish Hockey League (IHL) semi-final against Rovers still to come.
The combined efforts of Pembroke and Rovers in Europe this season have, it was confirmed yesterday by the European Hockey Federation, moved Ireland up from 10th to seventh in the Euro Hockey League (EHL) ranking table, earning a second spot in next season’s EHL (at the expense of Scotland). Those places will go to this season’s IHL and Irish cup winners – should Pembroke win both the runners-up in the IHL will join them in the EHL.
Rovers, meanwhile, have confirmed Dutch man Maarten Bos will take over from Turloch O’Siochain as coach next season after O’Siochain’s decision to step down at the end of the current campaign. Bos comes with a lengthy coaching CV, having had spells in charge of the Welsh under-18 boys’ team and, in Holland, the youth set-up at HC Bloemendaal, the senior women’s team at UHC Qui Vive and men’s team at SCHC. He also worked on behalf of the Dutch hockey federation as an under-16 coach in the North Holland district.
Back home Leinster’s bottom club Kilkenny must beat YMCA tomorrow if they are to have any hope of catching UCD, who are two points ahead of them. The students are away to Corinthians in their final game. Leinster, Munster and Ulster, meanwhile, will battle it out for the under-21 interprovincial title at Grange Road on Sunday.
FIXTURES: Leinster League: Division One: Tomorrow:Corinthians v UCD, Whitechurch, 3.0; Monkstown v Pembroke Wanderers, Rathdown, 3.0; Kilkenny v YMCA, Kilkenny, 3.0; Railway Union v Fingal, Park Avenue, 3.0; Three Rock Rovers v Glenanne, Grange Road, 3.0. Interprovincial Tournament(at Grange Road). Sunday:Leinster v Munster, 10.30; Ulster v Munster, 1.45; Leinster v Ulster, 5.0. Junior Interprovincial Tournament(at Lisnagarvey) – Tomorrow:Connacht v Leinster, 10.0; Munster v Ulster, 11.45; Connacht v Munster, 3.0. Sunday:Ulster v Connacht, 10.0; Munster v Leinster, 11.45; Ulster v Leinster, 3.0.
