Men's Hockey: The club championships play-off finals next weekend will be devoid of a team from Leinster as Instonians, Lisnagarvey, Annadale and C of I came through the weekend to ensure their place in the Belfield round-robin event and a possible place in Europe next season.
Three Rock Rovers, who faced Instonians at Grange Road having held the Ulster side to 2-2 in Belfast, met a sharp team on the bounce from their European trip last weekend.
Some teams come back from European Championships tired, others are geared up to a different tempo and that is how Instonians arrived at Rovers.
The young and inexperienced home side will now look at the season overall and, despite the disappointment of a 4-2 defeat, will probably deem it to be as successful as they could have hoped for.
But lucky too for them that Instonians' short corners were not firing until their 12th attempt when Chris Barnes equalised after Charlie Carroll had scrambled in Rovers' first after 13 minutes.
It was a match that Instonians could have won with greater ease had the setpieces clicked earlier but thanks to some good reactions from goalkeeper Wendel Armstrong Instonians remained frustrated until the 48th-minute opener.
Barnes then added his second from open play before Peter McConnell's flick drew Rovers level on the 70th minute with their first corner of the match.
While Rovers drew two yellow cards, Instonians had the ball netted on three other occasions just as the whistle blew to award them short corners.
Still, attacking menacingly down the right in extra-time Andrew Cousins snapped up a ball rebounding off the Rovers post for 3-1 before Barnes completed his hat-trick late in the match from Instonians' 16th corner of the game.
Lisnagarvey, with Kevin Lunn opening for the Ulster side after 12 minutes, also squeezed Glenanne out.
Although it looked like the Dublin team could hold their opponents, Mark Tumilty snatched Lisnagarvey's second with only two minutes remaining in the match.
Cork Harlequins went down 4-2 to the Ulster Senior League winners, Annadale, and made their exit while Corinthians lost by a single goal to C of I, where some controversy surrounded what the Dublin side claim should have been a penalty when a goal-bound strike struck a defender's chest.
Corinthians were also on the wrong side of umpiring decisions in the Irish Senior Cup when a goal was awarded against them in a semi-final shoot-out following a penalty save from goalkeeper Charlie Henderson.
ALL-IRELAND CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP - Three Rock Rovers 2 (C Carroll, P McConnell), Instonians 4 (C Barnes 3 A Cousins) aet; C of I 1 (P Smith), Corinthians 0 ; Lisnagarvey 2 (K Lunn, M Tumilty), Glenanne 0; Annadale 4 (I Hamilton 2, I McKeown, I Lewers), Cork Harlequins 2 (D Eakins 2)
